Even coming out of the difficulties of the cross-platform development of Cyberpunk 2077, it is not an exaggeration to consider this announcement as major when we know that The Witcher 3 has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide in addition to having collected some 250 game of the year awards, and that the franchise has once again demonstrated its popularity with the success of the Netflix series.
The Witcher 4dare we call it that pending a more formal announcement, obviously has no release date and it’s clear it won’t be released for a number of years, especially since a good chunk CD Projekt staff will still be busy for a while on the expansions of Cyberpunk 2077.
If the extensions in question will always be developed with the in-house REDengine engine, the next The Witcher will be based on the Unreal Engine 5 engine. A long-term technological partnership with Epic Games which is part of the renewal that CD Projekt hopes to initiate to make its development process more efficient.
“It is vital for CD PROJEKT RED to have a technical direction for our future game from the very beginning; in the past, we have spent a lot of resources and energy to evolve and adapt the REDengine with each new game release. This cooperation is so exciting, because it will improve development anticipation and efficiency, while by giving us access to state-of-the-art development tools. I can’t wait to see the amazing games we’ll be creating using Unreal Engine 5!“, rejoices the technical director Paweł Zawodny.
“Epic built the Unreal Engine 5 to enable teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity. We are deeply honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with CD PROJEKT RED to push the boundaries of interactive storytelling and gameplay together, and this effort will benefit the developer community for years to come.“, adds the happy Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games.
In order to cut short certain epidermal reactions, it should be noted that this alliance with Epic Games does not in no way in question the future availability of the game on Steam, the platform on which The Witcher 3 sold far too much to imagine that his successor would slam the door in his face.
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