BODY: Switch 2 owners who picked up The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered at launch have been waiting nearly two weeks longer than everyone else for their first big fix. CD PROJEKT RED has now confirmed that patch 5.01 is coming to the platform "soon."
Every other version โ PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S โ got the update on October 8. The Switch 2 build lagged behind because its hardware-specific features needed extra work, and the Japanese release is still sitting in certification, which means local players may see it land slightly behind other regions even after the switch is flipped.
On the shared side, 5.01 repairs the automatic oil application that Witcher 3 veterans have long relied on for monster hunts, squashes a boat-stacking glitch tied to certain locations, corrects UI messages that displayed incorrectly, and makes a round of visual optimizations.
The Switch 2-exclusive list is the more interesting one. CD PROJEKT RED is adjusting image sharpness and resolution specifically for the console, optimizing the cache behavior for cross-platform mod support, and fixing HD rumble while Geralt climbs ladders โ a bug where only the left Joy-Con was actually vibrating.
Most consequentially, the patch addresses failures in cross-progression, the feature that lets players carry a save between platforms. It also adds safeguards for save data that was already corrupted during a failed transfer, which is the kind of fix that arrives too late for some people but at least stops the bleeding.
The Remaster launched across all four platforms on September 29.
The insider take
Cross-progression is not a nice-to-have in Japan โ it is close to the whole pitch. Switch 2 has been the dominant hardware here since launch, and the commuter-train play session is a real design constraint, not a marketing line: the ability to leave Velen on a PS5 at home and resume it on the Yamanote line is exactly why many Japanese players bought this version rather than a cheaper existing one. That the save-transfer feature shipped broken, and that the Japanese build now waits on a separate certification pass to be fixed, is a familiar double delay for Japanese console owners of Western-developed games. Spike Chunsoft's long stewardship of the series here built a genuinely loyal Japanese Witcher audience; they tend to be patient, but they notice.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).