More trusted voices are adding their weight to The Witcher 3 DLC/expansion rumour, as we hear that it's not the desert area of Zerrikania the add-on will take us to but somewhere nearer a place we know - the forested land of Velen.

There are a couple of pieces of information to consider. The first is that respected insider NateTheHate stated that The Witcher 3 add-on is real. When asked if it exists, NateTheHate replied on X that, simply, "It does." NateTheHate has a record of leaking industry news; they broke the news that Xbox would publish games PlayStation, for example.

The second piece of information comes from a former Polish games journalist UV o grach, who is said to have close ties to the Polish industry. They told their YouTube viewers the DLC/expansion would actually be located in a land very close to Velen, although not Velen itself. The specific comments are hard to find as the video is in Polish, but multiple people on Reddit who speak Polish have corroborated this information.

Speaking of translation: prior Zerrikania rumours were potentially made a bigger deal out of than they ought to have been. The IGN Poland report that they were based on only ever mentioned CD Projekt Red had considered an expansion desert setting years ago; in the years since, plans could easily have changed. Zerrikania might never have been in the offing.

Rumours of a surprise 2026 Witcher 3 DLC/expansion gained momentum at the beginning of this year. So far we've heard that this will be a paid expansion costing around $30, which aims to bridge the gap between The Witcher 3 and Witcher 4, and will possibly star Ciri. It's allegedly being developed by Fool's Theory, a studio made up of former CD Projekt devs, which is also remaking The Witcher 1 and helping with The Witcher 4. A release date is rumoured for The Witcher 3's anniversary month of May.

CD Projekt Red hasn't said anything other than it doesn't comment on rumour and speculation, but there's so much smoke now it's tempting to believe it's true. But when does CD Projekt Red intend to announce it? There aren't any obvious game-show moments to hang an announcement on before the summer, unless it piggybacks the new-look Game Developers Conference this month.

More to the point, if this expansion is $30, it will be the most expensive add-on The Witcher 3 has had. Hearts of Stone was $10 (£8) and Blood and Wine was $20 (£16), and both were considerable pieces of work. Are we to believe this add-on will be bigger, or even as big, as Blood and Wine, which included a beautiful new region and roughly 15-20 hours of story? It'd be some accomplishment to match or top that, especially as CD Projekt Red appears to be too busy making The Witcher 4 to help.