The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next-Gen Update - Cross-Saves And Cross-Progression Explained

From December 14, any player that owns The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC, Xbox Series X|S, or PS5 will be treated with a free, next-generation update. This update gives players access to improved graphics as well new quests, cosmetics, and more, all for free if you already own the game. Those who do not own the game will be able to buy The Witcher 3: Complete Edition, which includes the next-gen update as well as both of the game's narrative expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. In addition to all of that content, developer CD Projekt RED has also implemented a new online feature in The Witcher 3. This feature gives players access to cross-progression and cross-saves. Essentially, this means that players will be able to access their Witcher 3 saves on different platforms from the one they initially played on. Below, you can see exactly how to take advantage of the new cross-save system in The Witcher 3.

Cross-saves in The Witcher 3

CD Projekt RED has essentially ported over the cross-save system from Cyberpunk 2077 to The Witcher 3. Players can store their save in the cloud, which can then be accessed on different platforms. The caveat is that players can only have one cross-save active on any platform, so you couldn't transport different saves with plans to save-scrub across platforms. Of course, this new feature also only applies to the current-gen consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and PC, as those are the platforms that are receiving the next-gen update.

In order to use the cross-save functionality in The Witcher 3, you will need to simply enable the "cross-progression" option within the settings of the game. To do this, pause The Witcher 3 and then open the "save" or "load" menu. From here, you will be able to enable cross-progression, which will then require you to log into your GoG account, which is CDPR's digital video game marketplace.

If you don't have a GoG account, you can make one using a valid email. Once you've either signed in or made a GoG account, you can return to The Witcher 3. Now, all of your saves will be uploaded to the cloud. To access your saves on a different platform, repeat the same steps as before to enable cross-progression.

After that's done, you can then see all of your cloud saves through the "Load Game" menu, which can be accessed in-game or at the opening screen for The Witcher 3. Simply pick which save you want to load, and you will then be taken to whatever point that save was on. The only difference now is you will be on a different platform.

Cross-progression between platforms

While you will be able to access different saves across most platforms, there is a caveat you will need to be aware of when playing The Witcher 3's next-gen update.

To break it down, you can access your cross-progression saves regardless of what platform you're on. Xbox Series X|S save files can be transferred to PlayStation 5, and vice versa, for example. Similarly, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X|S save files can be transferred to PC and PC save files can be transferred between different PCs and PC accounts (Steam to GoG), as well as to consoles--excluding Switch, which we've detailed further below.

However, you will need to ensure you're moving saved data across similar versions of the game, accounting for the fact that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is, in this regard, a different game than The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition. If you're trying to cross-save from, for example, the PC version of the base game and the PS5 version of the Complete Edition, it won't work, so make sure each platform you want to be involved is using the same version of the game.

CD Projekt Red has also cautioned that for people playing on PC and Switch, where cross-saves were already possible for some time now, this functionality will only work one way going forward. From the developer:

"After you update your PC copy of the game to patch 4.0, you won’t be able to open those saves on the Nintendo Switch copy after transferring them using the GOG and Steam cloud save file integration, as the versions of the game will no longer match. You are, however, able to transfer from the Nintendo Switch to PC."

The next-gen update for The Witcher 3 is out now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.