The Gwent Card Game Was Almost Cut From the Witcher III: Wild Hunt
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is soon to get a release as a standalone collectible card game. The game began its life as a feature of The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, before spinning off into its own game after becoming a fan favorite. It has been in public beta ever since, with a release date soon approaching. However, in a recent interview, the co-creator of Gwent revealed that the card game was almost cut from The Witcher III prior to release.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game
Speaking in a recent interview with Gamespot, Gwent co-creator Rafal Jaki explained how the card game came to be. He and fellow creator Damien Monnier apparently developed several prototypes to fit the Witcher setting. However, the development team at CD Projekt Red were not initially impressed with the designs. In fact, the team almost abandoned the idea completely to focus on other elements of the game.
When The Witcher III: Wild Hunt released, Gwent quickly became a key favorite for many fans, so much so that the developers added more to it in DLC. Shortly after the release of the game, in 2016, they announced Gwent: The Witcher Card Game as a standalone title. Since then, Gwent has been in public beta. Roughly two months ago, CD Projekt Red announced a major overhaul of the game entitled “Homecoming“; an update which will also coincide with the game’s formal release. Shortly after that release date, the game will also receive the “Thronebreaker” expansion. Thronebreaker is a single-player campaign mode for Gwent which features an over-world and it’s own independent story.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game will release on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The exact release date for the game hasn’t been announced, but it will be “six months after” the Homecoming announcement; two months ago. Thus, the game is expected to release sometime around November.