CD Projekt Red confirms new Witcher game is in development
Polish developer CD Projekt Red has confirmed the next instalment in The Witcher series of role-playing games to be in development. The title marks the first new mainstream entry to the franchise since 2015’s Wild Hunt, which was followed a couple of card-based games based on the beloved lore.
The official Twitter post links to a news article, which suggests a major shift in the development process for the team. CD Projekt Red will be switching from its exing REDengine – which was being used for over a decade, to Unreal Engine 5. This comes as part of a “multi-year strategic partnership” between the studio and Epic Games.
https://t.co/XtbfqscMWr pic.twitter.com/eK6ZIbfLRa
— The Witcher (@witchergame) March 21, 2022
“It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant. We’ll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences,” it reads.
The REDengine will, however, be used to continue development on Cyberpunk 2077, which was plagued with a myriad of bugs and optimisation issues since launch. Currently, The Witcher 4 is deep in development, so there is no potential release window in sight. However, a tweet from game maker Jason Slama confirms that he will be heading development as the game director.
Jason Slama had previously headed Gwent, the standalone Witcher card-based game, which is available to download for free right now. “I am super thrilled to announce that I have humbly been working to ensure the success of the next big AAA The Witcher game as its Game Director!” he said on Twitter.
As for the potential release platforms, the official Witcher account has confirmed that regardless of the multi-year partnership with Epic Games Store, they have no plans to make it an exclusive.This means, the game should launch on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and their in-house launcher – Galaxy of Games (GOG).
