Gwent has received its final proper patch, and CD Projekt Red is the leaving the future of this Witcher card game to its players.
CD Projekt Red’s Gwent team is moving on from the title, which is why they’ve created the “Balance Council” system. As explained in the Balance Council FAQ, it’ll allow players to vote on “which cards should be stronger, weaker, costlier, or cheaper.”
Related: How To Read The Witcher Books in Order
The results of those votes will, effectively, be implemented, allowing players to control which cards get buffed, nerfed and so on. But not just anyone can vote, only those who are “..at least Prestige 1,” and are “Either be in Pro Rank OR have won 25 ranked games in the current season.”
New players are excluded so that should, in theory, prevent vote rigging. CD Projekt Red also encourages players to communicate, via Reddit and other sources.
They’re effectively putting the game into maintenance mode so while there may be minor bug-fixing patches, the game’s not getting any new content.
It’s a bold idea, to say the least. It also seems more than a little foolhardy, given that the news system involves having players vote on cards. Geralty McGeraltface anyone? But, picking through CD Projekt’s FAQ, it appears the developer has put a great deal of thought into it.
Will this work? We certainly hope so, and CD Projekt Red seems to have put appropriate safeguards in place. But, well… let’s just say we’ll be getting the popcorn in.
Gwent first featured in Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher novels and later became playable in-game in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It wasn’t until 2018 that it became a standalone video game, which is available to play now.
