Witcher 3's Blood and Wine Expansion Coming Later Than Expected - Report

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's second paid expansion, Blood and Wine, reportedly has a new release window. Previously expected to launch in Q1 2016 (January-March), the DLC is now scheduled for first half of 2016 (January-June). The slight shift was mentioned briefly in a recent press release obtained by Videogamer for Hearts of Stone, the RPG's first expansion, which was released today, October 13.

The Blood and Wine product page on The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red's own GOG.com still shows a release window of Q1 2016 for Blood and Wine. A CD Projekt Red representative told GameSpot, "We'll be communicating more about the exact launch date of Blood and Wine at a later point in time. Stay tuned."

Blood and Wine is the more substantial of The Witcher 3's two paid expansions, said to offer around 20 hours of gameplay, compared to 10 hours for Hearts of Stone. The expansion takes place in the new region of Toussaint and will "take Geralt to a land untainted by war, where an atmosphere of carefree indulgence and knightly ritual masks an ancient, bloody secret."

No further details about Blood and Wine have been announced.

GameSpot's Hearts of Stone review scored the expansion a 9/10.

"Hearts of Stone feels just as much a part of the narrative as any of the main game's quest lines, but stands on its own as a memorable adventure," critic Mike Mahardy said. "It may have its negative moments and the pacing may be broken at certain intervals, but The Witcher 3's first paid expansion is well worth the return to the Northern Kingdoms."

Overall, The Witcher 3 has sold more than 6 million copies.