'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' Release Date, Pre-Orders News: Draws Over 1 Million Pre-Orders Ahead of May 19 Launch; Gameplay Footage Leaked Online

The hype around "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" has reached boiling point amid news that the game has already attracted over 1 million pre-orders before its launch on May 19.

An enterprising retailer in the U.A.E. even went ahead and sold the game a whole week before its launch. This resulted in gameplay footage being leaked online on various sites.

This leak led CD Projekt Red to scramble and lock down threads that refer to the spoilers in its official forum. But it hasn't managed to stop the leaked footage from appearing on other sites. On its official forum, CD Projekt Red encouraged gamers to report any spoilers originating from the leak. As the gameplay footage on the Xbox One leaked, it was discovered to be in 720p. CD Projekt Red was quick to state that the actual game would arrive on the console in 900p and 30 fps.

On the PlayStation 4, "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" can be played at 1080p and 30 fps. Coming to the PC version, gamers will need a minimum 6 GB RAM to run it along with an Intel i5 processor and 40 GB of memory.

Gameplay videos from the leak also appeared via Twitch. The user was subsequently banned. There are also videos on YouTube and gameplay footage totaling five minutes still available on VGleaks. Twitch also cautioned users of its service that they are not allowed to stream the game until after it has been officially launched. It also stated on its official Twitter support account that "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" cannot be broadcast until May 19.

As "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" crossed the one million pre-order mark, CD Projekt Red released a press release thanking all those who had pre-ordered the game, which it said has already earned multiple awards. The developer also noted that it is working hard on "increasing performance on all platforms and have also begun work on the expansions titled "Hearts of Stone" and "Blood and Wine."