CD Projekt RED is following through on its promise to stop official support for Gwent this year, but not before releasing one last update. The company announced on Gwent's website that a final u?pd??ate is coming, but the card game's future isn't ending.

Alongside the balance update is the inclusion of "Gwentfinity," which hands balance to the player base. The feature's announcement came last year alongside Gwent's sunsetting, so it's something fa?ns have expected.

Not all of Gwent will be in players' hands, as CD Pro??jekt Red is employing a skeleton team to?? manage its infrastructure. This will ensure the game remains operational while keeping players generally in control.

How balance changes will work going forward is with the community-run Balance Council. Becoming a member involves being at Prestige 1 and Pro Rank for the season or winning 25 games in the season. These restrictions are to ensure eligible voters are community members deeply familiar with Gwent's meta.

Balance Co??uncil members will get to partici?pate in monthly votes that potentially change a set number of cards. Restrictions include voting for up to three cards within certain brackets to ensure changes without breaking the game.

Beyond the newfound community control and some oversight from CD Projekt Red, Gwent will no longer see any new cards. This means any cha??nges will be ma?de with cards already implemented within the game.

Gwent's last update comes not too long after CD Projekt Red announced it is laying off around nine percent of its staff. Hopefully, all affected can find new workplaces and any remaining staff can effectively manage Gwent's community.

The post Gwent is releasing its fin?al developer update, and handing balance to its players appeared first on Destructoid.

'Gwenfinity' to see players take control of meta

CD Projekt RED has announced that it plans to start sunsetting Gwent �the spin-off card game from mega-popular RPG franchise The Witcher �in 2023. As of 2024, no further cards will be produced for the digital tabletop t??itle, with a total of three expansions planned before the deck closes for good?.

"We are not planning to release new cards starting from 2024, so the cards which will release in 2023 basically will be the last brand-new ones that we will be adding to the game," revealed Gwent director Vladimir Tortsov in a developer video. "It's a pretty significant change, there??'s no way around it.

"With the cards that we are planning to add to the game next year, we are basically planning to close the card pool with every idea that we wanted to add, every mechanic that we wanted to see, pretty much everything that we would like to see in Gwent, we will try to fit it within the year."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EsTFtuDT2k

This does not, however, mean that Gwent will become a dead, non-playable ent??ity. In a motion known to the studio as "Gwenfinity", a skeleton crew will be assigned to routinely keep one eye on the game's infrastructure, while the players t?hemselves will be offered the opportunity to decide upon rule changes and balance tweaks as the Gwent meta continues, post-support.

With this new system, CDPR hopes that the Gwent community will be able to continu??e enjoying, and even evolving, the fantasy tabletop title. And so, while support will officially end in 2024, there will hopefully still be many, many years of coin-tossing over tavern tables sti??ll to come.

The post Witcher card ??game Gwent to wind down support in 2023 appeared first on Destructoid.

Multiple CDPR releases supposedly on the black market

Last week, we reported how CD Projekt RED had run afoul of a "targeted cyber attack," with a party of unknown persons reportedly stealing staggering amounts of data from the Polish developer, including the source code to s?ome of its biggest and most recent releases.

Initially the hackers - a group calling itself "HelloKitty" - tried to ransom the stolen data to CDPR, who went public with the entire affair while clearly stating it had no intent of paying the persons responsible. This weekend, it was reported by cyber intelligence group Kela that HelloKitty held an auction on the "dark web," where it allegedly sold the source code for CDPR's recent release Cyberpunk 2077. Kela reports that the actual sale took place outside of the auc??tion itself, which reportedly had an opening bid of $1 million USD and a? sale price of $7 million USD.

It is alleged that HelloKitty also has copies of the source code for both retail and unreleased builds of 2015's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, as well as the code for Witcher's spin-off card game, Gwent. In a statement posted last week, CDPR said that it believes the personal details of its employees remain safe. The attack and supposed sale is the latest in a string of nightmares for CD Projekt RED, which has spent the past few months defending itself against numerous lawsuits and negative publicity over the rocky launch of Cyberpunk 2077, which lead CEO Marcin Iwinski to release an official apology video.

CDPR is working with IT specialists ??and law enforcement officials?? to investigate the situation.

Cyberpunk 2077 studio's hacked data has report??ed?ly been sold [The Verge]

The post CDPR hackers reported??ly sell Cyberpunk 2077 code following $7 million auct?ion appeared first on Destructoid.

With cross-progression with PC and iOS

You can toss a coin to your Witcher if you want, but it's really not necessary in this case. The Android adaption of the hit free-to-play card game Gwent has released nearly one full year after the mobile versions were first announced.

The requirements for playing Gwent on Android are fairly simple: You just need an Android device that's running version 7.0 or higher, and has at least 1.5GB of RAM. If you meet the criteria, you can download Gwent here on the Google Play store.

Android is the latter of the two mobile versions of Gwent to release. Back in October, it launched on iOS devices. There's full cross-play between PC, iOS, and Android. Further, anyone with a GOG account can merge their?? accounts so that progress and purchases c??an be carried over between the three different platforms.

However, there's no cross-play with the console versions because those are not long for this world. Late last year, CD Projekt Red announced that it's winding down Gwent on PS4 and Xbox One before the servers officially go offline on June 9. Geralt giveth and Geralt taketh? away??.

Gwent is live on Android! Download Now on Go??ogle Play! [Gwent]

The post Gwent is finally available on Android devices appeared first on Destructoid.

Deck depleted

Gwent is one of the better free-to-play card games in an ever-growing sea of them, but to quote John Darnielle, "good things never last, bad things never die." This coming Monday, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Gwent will cease receiving updates. Additionally, real-life money will no longer be accepted in-game. These versions will remain operational in a closed environment with their respective consoles until servers are offi??cially shut down on June 9??, 2020.

Players who wish to continue receiving updates and spending real-world money will be given the option to transfer their accounts to PC or mobile platforms. A GOG account is necessary for this transfer and the move must be made before the official end date next year which gives players roughly six months to move to another ??platform.

CD Projekt explained the discontinuation, saying it can't "support a growing number of different versions of Gwent while improving feature parity between them." With the release of Gwent on iOS a few months ago and an Androi??d version coming soon -- as well as the eighth-generation consoles moving into the gaming retirement home -- it's not really a surprise to see these versions get the ax.

CD Projekt discontinuing support for Wit??cher card game Gwent on consoles [EuroGamer]

The post Gwent support ending for consoles next week appeared first on Destructoid.

Both iOS and Android

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is chugging along ni?cely with new expansions (including Crimson Curse, the first major card expansion that's adding 100 cards into the mix) and campaign content. It just came out officially after all in October of 2018 following a lengthy open beta process, so it stands to reason that CD Projekt Red is going to keep supporting it for a bit amid a relativ??ely tumultuous and competitive digital card game space.

As far as long term support goes it helps to know that the publisher is planning on putting out Gwent on mobile platforms (iOS first, then Android) later this fall as they continue to invest in it. Currently available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC, Gwent will retain the same vi??sual she?en as core platforms, with other details to come "later this year."

Not bad! Gwent slowly made its way into my card game rotation (which is Arena and Elder Scrolls Legends heav?y right now) so I'm glad to hear that there's a lot more in the works for it.

Gwent Coming to Smartphones [Gwent]

The post Gwent is comi?ng to mobile platforms later this year appeared first on Destructoid.

Crimson Curse, coming March 28

The world of The Witcher is already expansive, but the world of The Witcher's collectible card game is about to grow substantially. Five (or so) months after Gwent officially r?eleased, it's ge??tting its first expansion.

Crimson Curse involves the vampire Dettlaff van der Eretein as he turns the moon blood red and summons his kin. In doing so, new beasts are awoken and new threats come to light. If van der Eretein sounds familiar, it's because this isn't his first rodeo. This higher vampire was the nemesis in The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine add-on.

This expansion introduces 100 new cards to Gwent. There are 31 neutral cards and 14 cards for each faction. This will take a toll on the whole game, as developer CD Projekt Red says no one is safe from the curse; existing cards have to ward off van der Eretei?n's curse too.

Gwent: Crimson Curse?? releases on Ma??rch 28, 2019 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The post Gwent’s first expansion is cursed by a vampire appeared first on Destructoid.

The PTR is open until October 9

The folks behind Gwent have been busy as of late, and in a few short weeks, card-loving Witcher fans will be too. It's almost time for Thronebreaker, the "30-hour" standalone single-player RPG campaign from CD Projekt Red with "unique puzzles and card battle mechanics." That's coming first to PC on October 23 for $30. On the same day, Gwent will also get its long-awaited Homecoming overhaul.

"While fighting with the everyday reality of regular updates and content drops, we lost sight of what was unique and fun about the game," the developers said back in April. Homecoming is their ??fix. The update includes visual touch-ups??, mechanical changes, and a better sense of player progression.

You don't have to wait until October 23 for Homecoming, though. The Gwent rework is playable from now until October 9 at 12:00pm CEST with an open beta via the GOG Galaxy client. This includes access to Casual mode, the Deck Builder, and the "entire" Gwent card collection. Better get busy!

Thronebreaker speaks to me more, but I know Gwent fans have been dying to try out Homecoming.

The post Gwent’s Homecoming overhaul is playable this weekend appeared first on Destructoid.

Deal me in, Yennifer

CD Projekt RED are finally taking their Witcher in-universe card game, Gwent, out of open beta next month. Gwent: The Witcher's Card Game will officially launch October 23 on PC, wit?h console editions to follow in?? December.

Along with the official release arrives Homecoming, an overhaul of the game's visual and UI system, incorporating a 3D playing board, new artwork, and some tweaks to gameplay. If that isn't enough, then October will also see the release of campaign mode Thronebreaker: A Witcher's Tale, which adds a single-player story mode of sorts, set within the se????xy, sexy Witcher's world.

For more details on Gwent, Homecoming and Thronebreaker, you can check out the five-minute developer video below, as Community Manager Pawel Burza takes you through some of the upcoming additions to this popular, tavern-filling title. Gwent: The Witcher's Card Game launches on PC ??October 23 and on PS4 and Xbox One December 4.

The post The W?itcher Gwent and Thron??ebreaker card games launching on PC next month appeared first on Destructoid.

Out at some point in the future

I haven't played much of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, mostly due to my fa??tigue from card games that hinge on random packs. I don't mind keeping up with the meta with multiple games, it's just that having to grind up paltry amounts of currency to get the cards I want gets old after a while if I'm doing it in multiple loot box (read: random ?card packs) supported titles.

That's partially what piqued my interest in the new draft-based arena mode just unveiled yesterday via developer CD Projekt Red's Twitch stream. Hosted by Gaunter O'Dimm (of Witcher 3 DLC fame) you'll draft cards from the entire library of Gwent, picking singles just like a real-life Magic (MTG) draft. There's just one catch, you'll need 150 currency (ore) or $1.99 for each playthrough -- which can be anywhere from multipl?e wins to three deaths. You'll get one "keg" (loot box) after playing, even if you lose, with more prizes doled out to winners.

Draft will make its way to Gwent at some point this year. Arena modes aren't new even ??for digital card?? games, but I might check it out more once its added.

CD Projekt Red [Twitch]

The post Gwent is adding a much-requested draft mode appeared first on Destructoid.

No Thronebreakings taking place until 2018

Thronebreaker, the single-player campaign for Witcher-based card game Gwent, has been delayed into 2018. The announcement was made by studio CD Projekt Red on the game's website.

In the post, studio co-founder Marcin Iwiński points to the game's scope simply requiring further development title, with the team hoping to hold off on delivering the content until they can meet their own high standards of quality.

"Shifting release windows is always something we approach seriously, however, we’ll never hesitate to do it if we feel you’ll get a better game as a result," stated Iwiński in the post. "I would like to apologize everyone who planned to play Thronebreaker over the Holidays — I assure you that we will do our best to make the final game worth the addit?ional?? wait."

CD Projekt Red are a studio infamous for delaying their releases, but are equally known for delivering quality products. Hopefully, this will be another case of fan's patience being well-rewarded with great content for the collectible card game. The post also makes mention of multiple cosmetic and mechanical updates planned for Gwent, with the studio hoping to ease?? in new players, while adding exciting new features for veterans.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game is available now, in beta form, on PC, ?PS?4 and Xbox One.

The post The Gwent ?single-player story campaign has been delayed appeared first on Destructoid.

Thronebreaker

Gwent is finally ready to make an impact on the lore of the Witcher universe. Originally just a card game within The Witcher 3, it eventually spun off to? become its own competitive standalone game. Now, developer CD P??rojekt Red has revealed its single-player mode.

Announced at gamescom, Gwent's story mode is called "Thronebreaker." According to the Gwent site, Thronebreaker features a new protagonist named Meve. Here's the description of her tale: "[Meve is] a war-veteran queen of two Northern Realms. Facing an imminent foreign invasion, Meve is forced ?to once again enter the warpath, and sets out on a dark journey of destruction and revenge."

CD Projekt Red also gave vague details as to what can be expected of this single-player campaign: "Explore new and never before seen parts of The Witcher world, embark on thought-??provoking quests, gather resources, and engage in custom-made story battles, which twist the game's rules in wildly unexpected ways."

Alongside the reveal is this teaser trailer that's embedded above. It's sharp, but it may not be reasonable to expect a card game to be able to deliver the same kind of story that an action RPG can. We'll see when Thronebreaker releases later this year. In the meantime, Gwent is still in public beta on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Gwent Thronebreak?er is Coming to the Witcher Card Game! [Gwent]

The post Here’s the first look at Gwent’s single-player story mode appeared first on Destructoid.

Have at it

I still haven't really dug into Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, but I can rectify that soon now that it's in public beta on PC, PS4, and Xbox One (I mean, I kinda have since I played it in the series proper). While it was available for testing in closed form for months, everyone can pick it up and give it a go. The official site has a nice rundown of how to play if you've never touched a Witcher game before.

Much like Hearthstone, Gwent is billed?? as a semi-canon but basically not jaunt in the same universe, where existing protagonists can enjoy a respite from the harsh realities of their fantasy world. The cinematic trailer below is probably wor?th checking out if you're into the series.

If you're not a beta kind of guy/gal, you can wait until they eventually put it out on the open market. It's free, and supported by microtransactions in the form of items that grant more cards, alongside of a Hearthstone-esque crafting system.

The post Witcher standalone card ga??me Gwent is now in public beta appeared first on Destructoid.

Get it while it's hot

CD Projekt Red has their hands full with Cyberpunk, but until that one drops they're toiling away with Gwent -- a standalone derivative of the card game in The Witcher universe.

Users have been testing out the closed beta for weeks now by way of signups on the official site, but that phase is set to end soon. The developer has announced that as o?f this weekend, it'll be y??our "last chance" to sign up for the closed portion, so if you're interested, head on over and try your luck.

That said, Gwent will head into its open phase soon enough. We'll get details as soon as next week, but if you've been putting it off, you may as well make the effort to get in now. Surprisingly I haven't played much of this spinoff, as most of my card game time is spent in Hearthstone, or dabbling in its many competitors like the Elder Scrolls version, and so on.

Maybe by the time the open beta hits I'll get around to it -- I mean, Gwent was mighty fine in The Witcher proper!

Gwent [Twitter]

The post Gwent is gett??ing an op??en beta soon, but before then closed registrations are shutting down appeared first on Destructoid.

This weekend

If you've been staring at the PC and Xbox One editions of the Gwent beta, longingly hoping for a PS4 round, you'??re in luck.

CD Projekt Red has confirmed that the PS4 will be getting a technical beta this weekend, you just have to find it on the PSN. The event will kick off on March 31 at 1PM ET until April 3 at 2AM ET. They've clarified that you don't need PlayStation Plus to play, but all of your progress will be deleted b??y the tim?e the beta period ends.

I still have yet to dig into this or the Elder Scrolls card game in earnest. But with so many people vowing to try something other than Hearthstone it's ??only a mat??ter of time until I find someone to play with.

Gwent Closed Beta Status Update [Gwent]

The post Gwent is coming to the PS4 in beta form appeared first on Destructoid.

We're close

Opening up cross-platform play was such a huge and funny move by Microsoft. After years of turning it down and ??being the market leader during the 360 era, they've now put the decision in Sony's charge. If Sony somehow decides it wants to give an extra advantage to their competitor, that they're currently crushing in hardware sales, it can happen. Un??til then -- we all lose.

CD Projekt Red has a dog in this hut too. Speaking to IGN, they're actively "hoping" that Rocket League developer Psyonix paves the way for this feature so that when Gwent launches later this year, it can happen (it's already confirmed for PC and Xbox One). P??syonix has previously stated that they'll be able to connect PS4 and Xbox One/PC players "in less than a business day" -- they only need to say the word.

The pressure is o?n Sony and rightfully so. This would be a huge move forward for the console?? market, and I hope that this happens, somehow or someway.

Witcher Dev 'Would Love' PS4-Xbox One C??ross-Network Play [IGN]

The post CD Projekt Re?d is h??oping that Sony will open up console cross-platform play appeared first on Destructoid.

Move over Triple Triad, Gwent's the new kid in town

My love for Gwent, the card-based mini-game in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was pure (unlike horny-as-heck Geralt), driven by a childhood playing Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII. Like many others, I spent a sizable amount of my already-lengthy playthr?ough of that game challenging every dirty peasant and preened lord to a card game, something I never thought I'd do again. 

And now CD Projekt Red has decided to grant Gwent the power of italics, and transmute it into Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, a standalone free-to-play card game that has absolut??ely no business as being as incredible as it looks.

During an E3 presentation, I was impressed by just how sleek Gwent looks in its new form. The original mini-game was functional yet drab, but the same can't be said now that pleasant animations and a cleaner interface have been added. Despite added depth to strategic choices being introduced, there's a clearer visual language that prompts a more immediate understanding at a glance. Some of the better cards even have animations on them that bring to mind the living portraits in Harry Potter. It makes your Big Nasty ??cards even more dau?nting and exciting to play.

A small part of me was not incredibly interested in playing against a live human being. That small part of me is also known as "Zack being petty because he likes winning, and his chances are much higher when he can trap the AI with certain strategies." That all changed when I was able to play with someone sitting across from me. Though that won't be the normal way people play, I did enjoy the additional aspect of determining my opponent's tells and calling his bluffs. Deception was already a key component of Gwent, and it turns out that humans are bigger assholes than computers (ahem, whoever I was playing, you weren't an asshole, though I am still bitter that you? defeated my monster deck so easily).

So! I like playing against humans, which was a surprise. But even if I hadn't CD Projekt Red is crafting multiple singleplayer campaigns based on deck factions (Northern Realms, Monsters, Scoia'tael, Skellige, and Nilfgaard), and oh my gosh guys it's so much cooler than I was anticipating. We watched a small segment of the tutorial, which had Geralt and a few companions I wasn't familiar with. There was full voice acting, including a narrator, and it was delivered by way of an art style that reminded me of Darkest Dungeon, with gorgeously thick black lines. The developers said they wanted to continue telling stories in this universe from various perspectives at?? different points in time.

The way that they're going about making these campaigns interesting aside from striking art is a 3D isometric world map. Between battles with your cards -- which now represent your armies and characters in battle, instead of being an in-universe card game -- you can navigate through a map that contains quests, secrets, and new ways to find cards. One example shown to us was a small ruin where Geralt found the remnants of a bomb called Scourge and boom now we had the Scourge card. There are also choices to be made that can branch the story out to give the ten-or-so-h??our campaigns some replayability.

Narratively, this works much more convincingly than it perhaps sounds on paper (blog?). After a sho??rt cutscene showing a forest demon kidnapping one of Geralt's c??ompanions, a battle ensued. That monster and some of Geralt's friends would shout lines and sound effects that made the stakes seem higher, and the game of cards feel less arbitrary. I'm happy that we'll be seeing more of the White Wolf himself, because I'm not quite ready to let go, but I'm similarly interested to see how CD Projekt Red will handle something like the Monster faction.

Detail on the pay structure itself is murky at the moment. I can imagine story campaigns costing a set amount, and with entire factions costing a similar amount when playing with others. There's always the chance of booster packs similar to Hearthstone, but the team isn't quite ready to talk about that yet. If I can just pay for single player con??tent, I'm in. So very in.

There's no release date yet, but a closed beta for PC and Xbox One begins this September, and it will release on PS4 as well. Between this and Resident Evil 7, I'm content wit??h this E3 so far?. 2016? Good year.

The post Gwent is CD Projekt Red’s sneaky way of making more Witcher stories appeared first on Destructoid.

'You are the wild card'

Over the last year, CD Projekt has "been secretly working on a real passion project," a digital, multiplayer version of the card game from The Witcher 3 that keeps ??the core elements a??nd adds a few new twists.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game features cross-play between PC and console players, but it also includes a single-player campaign and is "still a card game based on skill." You can register for the beta, which is coming to Xbox One and PC this September, at playgwent.com.

The post The Witcher 3’s popular card game Gwent is getting its own full release appeared first on Destructoid.