Gwent: The Witcher Card Game

Did You Know?

• Gwent was nominated for Most Promising New eSports Game at the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards.
• The game was chosen as one of the best competitive games of 2020 in the Google Play Awards.

Development and release

Development involved an estimated 100 staff members. Following an open beta in May 2017, Gwent officially launched for Windows in October 2018, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions following on December 4, 2018. Monthly patches accompany each seasonal update, introducing balance changes and additional cards, including those outside expansions. In March 2019, CD Projekt Red announced mobile releases; the iOS version arrived on October 29, 2019, and the Android version on March 24, 2020.

Support for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ended in June 2020, attributed to the console versions generating only 3% of total Gwent revenue per CD Projekt's 2019 Financial Report. Players could copy account progress and cards to a GOG account with no prior Gwent activity during a six-month window. Cross-platform play existed between PC and consoles, but not between the two console versions. The game launched on Steam in May 2020 and on Apple M1 Macs in April 2021.

CD Projekt Red announced that support for Gwent would wind down at the end of 2023, citing near-completion of planned card ideas and a shift to maintenance mode from 2024 onward. Community support involves voting on up to 30 changes per month across categories, with automated patches applying only to card power and provision values; card text, numbers within cards, and card effects cannot be altered, and the community cannot create new cards.

Esports

Esports were a significant focus for Gwent, featuring sizable prize pools distributed among participants. Competitive play was closely tied to the Ranked ladder; players at Pro Rank (rank 0) became eligible for tournaments, with matchmaking and progression at that level based solely on an Elo rating system. CDPR organized most esports events, and the scene declined after official support ended. Monthly themed seasons reset the Ranked ladder.

Gwent Opens occurred every three seasons, drawing qualified participants; winners of preceding years' Opens were invited to the Gwent Masters tournament, the only qualification path aside from accumulating Crown Points through tournaments and ladder play. The top 16 Ranked ladder players were invited to a top 16 qualifier; those who did not qualify were invited to a top 64 qualifier the following week. The top 16 qualifier used a Double-Elimination format on day one and a mix of Single-Elimination and Double-Elimination on day two.

The top 64 qualifier employed a Swiss-system tournament on day one and a mix of formats on day two. Gwent Open and Gwent Masters both used Single-Elimination, best-of-five matches with deck-banning; players knew their turn order (first or second) and could queue decks accordingly.

Related games

A standalone physical card game of Gwent was included with the Xbox One Collector's Edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Northern Realms and Nilfgaardian Empire factions) and in the Hearts of Stone physical expansion for PC/PS4 (Scoia'tael and Monsters factions). A full physical edition, Gwent: The Legendary Card Game, was released through No Loading Games and Hachette Boardgames in 2025, based on the Witcher 3 iteration and accompanied by suggested alternative rules for balance. Gwent is confirmed to return as a minigame in The Witcher IV, likely with simpler complexity akin to The Witcher 3 version.