[UPDATE] CD Projekt Red has released a statement regarding the exploit. It's sourced to fictional in-game characters, so make of that what you will.
"Nilfgaardian representatives are currently investigating the issue and exploring ideas to address the rapid influx of cow hides on the marketplace of White Orchard."
"Sustained cow slaughter may influence local economy and job market by allowing an unnaturally fast accumulation of goods, and also produces an undesirable effect of breaking gamer immersion," Said Bobbe Malinka, Senior Scribe, Nilfgaard Press Department. "All instances of poaching will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Nilfgaardian law, so cow exploiters better be on the lookout. We don't want any beef, but we have zero tolerance for such behavior," Malinka adds.
The original story is below.
Just days after the game's release, a new infinite money exploit has been discovered--and it involves mercilessly killing cows over and over and over.
YouTube user reveals that the trick--which is an exploit, not a glitch--is really quite simple. All you need to do is find some cows (White Orchard is a good place), kill the cows there, and then harvest their hide for a nice fee of 27 gold. Next, mediate for two hours and the cows will re-appear, thus allowing you to repeat the exploit as many times as you want.
There are only a couple drawbacks. First, the cow corpses don't vanish, meaning your heartless bovine slaughter will be an inescapable reality, weighing on your conscience (if you have one). Also, local shopkeepers don't have enough money to pay you once you turn in a certain number of hides.
This isn't such a big deal, however, as you can always travel to another shopkeeper or simply hoard the cash to spend later. And on the plus side, this exploit can be triggered very early in the game, affording you the nice benefit of being flush with cash from the onset.
We have contacted developer CD Projekt Red to see if the team plans to address this exploit in a future patch.
For more on The Witcher 3, check out and .