The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered launched yesterday, delivering next-gen graphics for the decade-old RPG to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and even the Nintendo Switch 2. The upgrade is free to owners of the title wherever they are, as are the game’s previous two DLC expansions, if you didn’t already own ’em beforehand.
Wind’s howling
If you have the physical copy of Witcher 3 on Switch 1, you are gifted the full digital copy of the Remaster, no need to use the cartridge after it
by
u/Erik_REF in
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If you’re a fan of CD Projekt Red’s fantastic adaptation of The Witcher novels, you probably knew all that already. What you might not know is how the Switch 2 version could actually earn you a few extra bucks, on top of the upgrade. If you own the The Witcher 3 physical cartridge on Switch 1, you can claim the remaster, like normal.
From then on, though, you don’t actually need the cartridge. Once installed, the Switch 2 version of Remastered launches entirely on its own. The game isn’t actually checking whether you own the physical version anymore. The same can’t be said for owners of the physical edition on PlayStation or Xbox, unfortunately.
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Technically, Switch 2 owners could borrow a friend’s copy (or grab it from a library), stick it in the console and grab The Witcher 3 Remastered entirely for free. Or, if you already own the Switch 1 cartridge, sell it on for cheap to do your bit. You likely won’t get a reasonable price anyway — fans are already selling their cartridges en masse.
There are a couple of drawbacks. For one, CD Projekt Red might change this requirement down the line (especially as it doesn’t allow this behaviour on other consoles). For another, the full digital game takes up around 50GB of the Switch 2’s already limited 256GB storage. Still, it might be worth the hassle, considering.
