CD Projekt RED has stated it will remove realistically modeled genitals from The Witcher 3 after they were unintentionally added in the Next Gen update.
While The Witcher as a series is no stranger to sexual content, the next-gen update for The Witcher 3 put realistically modeled genitals on the female characters of the game. How the original release handled female nudity was that several female characters were fully nude, but their genitals were not detailed on the character model, just being a smooth skin texture.
The update put much more anatomic detail into the nude characters, most notably the Crones of Crookback Bog and the bruxas, which are models seen fully nude with no obscuring shot or underwear present. This more than likely occurred due to the update sourcing community mods for many of the improvements, meaning this could be part of a larger mod that was added in without being fully verified. Nude mods are nothing new to The Witcher, with one of the more popular mods resembling the details found in the update.
Kotaku first reported on this discovery and reached out to CDPR for comment. The developer had stated that the issue was under investigation and that more details would be forthcoming. Now, in a follow-up email to the publication, CDPR has stated, "The next-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt features several community-sourced mods not created by CD PROJEKT RED, on top of numerous enhancements created and implemented by the studio internally. Merging everything together was a complex process and the textures in question are an unintended result present in the release version. This is something we are working to address". According to CDPR, these textures were never meant to release with the update and this was an oversight.
Nudity is a sensitive topic in gaming, as well as pop culture in general. CDPR has never been one to shy away from nudity, from the nude cards in the original The Witcher game to fully animated first-person sex scenes in Cyberpunk 2077, the studio has always been one to lead the charge of putting mature content into mainstream titles. While this visual change was an accident it's not entirely out of the ordinary for CDPR. Time will only tell what changes will be made now that the developer has said the content will be removed.