When CD Project Red announced pushing back the PS5 and Xbox Series versions of The Witcher 3, it was in reality to better prepare its balance sheet, which fell last night. The latter revealed many details about the studio’s upcoming strategy, with a fairly busy 2022 year, although the extension of Cyberpunk 2077 be postponed to 2023. And if we could fear that the postponement of new versions of The Witcher 3 was the sign of complications within the studio, CD Projekt Red wants to be reassuring.
No justification for withdrawing the project from Saber Interactive
During its financial report which took place yesterday, the studio affirmed (via comments relayed by IGN) via one of its representatives that the development of the next-gen versions of The Witcher 3 was going well, and that the postponement may not be so significant:
“ Regarding the launch of next-gen versions of The Witcher 3, there is one comment I wanted to make. I looked at the headlines on the internet and one caught my eye: “The Next-Gen Witcher 3 is delayed indefinitely.” This gives the impression that the game is in some kind of complicated development. I want to say that is not the case. There were a lot of hints that we were going to launch them in June. This is absolutely not the case. The game is going to be completed internally. No one is saying that the game is delayed until a time very distant from us. ยป
However, the justification for taking over the project internally was not given. Some speculate that it could be related to the war in Ukraine, given that Saber Interactive, which has been doing porting so far, has offices in Russia and Belarus (although the company’s headquarters are in the US). If the project was entrusted to one of these teams, taking over the project internally could be linked to this, even if there is nothing to confirm this for the moment.
And if these versions are delayed to a date not so distant, we therefore cross our fingers to discover them by the third quarter of 2022.