Gwent pits two players with faction themed decks that have a minimum of 32 cards against one another. As of now, The Witcher 3 has five factions to choose from and over 150 cards available for collection.
With the popularity of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it is not surprising that CD Projekt Red is attempting to keep up interest in the series. The newest DLC expansion, “Blood and Wine”, has received positive reviews, and any game that sells over 10 million copies is going to get a little extra attention.
CD Projekt Red could be trying to dip into the well of mobile trading card games which Hearthstone currently controls. A release of a Gwent game with the current cards and no other changes could be risky as there are a few strategies that seem to be a little overpowered at the moment, such as the Nilfgaard deck, where the right combination of cards and spies allows the player to get twice the number of cards as their opponent by the second round if they draw right.
If CD Projekt Red adds a bunch of cards and keeps up with the balance of a mobile Gwent game they could see a lot of success as the game is actually pretty fun. Who knows? Maybe they’ll even be able to challenge Hearthstone’s vice grip over mobile TCGs.