Released in May 2015 by Polish developer CD Projekt RED, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was a massive hit and introduced millions of players to the world of The Witcher, undoubtedly fueling the interest that prompted Netflix to produce the live-action adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's novel saga. Now The Witcher 3 has rocketed in popularity once again.

Statistics eagerly shared by CDPR's global community lead Marcin Momot show the game has more active players now on Steam than it did in 2015. It reached nearly 102,000 active players in one day, according to other sources. But that's likely only a fraction of gamers returning to face Eredin and the titular Wild Hunt. Just for context, in its first few months of release, The Witcher 3 sold approximately 1.5 million copies; by 2017, that number had reached 33 million.

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This renewed interest in the video game series isn't coincidental. It's safe to assume that a not insignificant portion of current gamers were pushed to CD Projekt RED's hit because of the Netflix series, either out of curiosity or a desire to delve deeper into the lore and characters, which the video game series depicts almost perfectly.

Netflix's The Witcher recently became the most in-demand series on television, just a little over a week since its release, beating out shows such as Stranger Things, Westworld and even Disney+'s The Mandalorian.

If there was any doubt that interest in the games has been inspired by the live-action series, just take a look at the kind of PC mods people are adding on to their games. They range from aesthetic modifications -- making Geralt of Rivia look more like Henry Cavill -- to musical additions, so gamers can listen to "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" as they play.

As mentioned, for many The Witcher 3 was an introduction to Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, Ciri and the rest of The Continent. That said, it's worth noting the Netflix series and CD Projekt RED's video games, although rooted in the same fantasy world, are really two separate adaptations. The series adapts Sapkowski's novels while the video games recreate that world, but depict events that take place after the author's story ended, which means most of it is a reimagining.

Given the almost-symbiotic bond between the Netflix series and CDPR's games, it's a good thing that Sapkowski, despite having a somewhat-rocky relationship with the game developer, has signed a new deal with them, possibly paving the way for more Witcher-related content. Meanwhile, showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich and her team of writers are already hard at work on Season 2 of The Witcher, which will begin filming this year and is likely to hit screens sometime in 2021.

The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Ciri and Joey Batey as Jaskier. Season 1 is now available on Netflix.

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