CD Projekt RED talks about the switch to Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4. The goal is to create an even more breathtaking open world than previous games.
CD Projekt RED is thinking big for The Witcher 4. Two weeks after setting the web ablaze by announcing a new chapter in the saga, the Polish studio made a small appearance at the Unreal Engine 5 conference.
The Witcher 4 under Unreal Engine 5
As we know, the next episode will mark a turning point for the saga. New story, new characters but not only. CD Projekt will abandon its in-house engine, the REDengine 4, in favor of that of Epic Games and there is a good reason behind this choice. We can already understand why given the various technical demos shown, but the studio has spoken about this change.
CTO Paweł Zawodny explained that the studio wanted to take the open world of The Witcher 4 and its upcoming releases to a whole new level. And to achieve its ambitions, CDPR has already started to test the engine and is very enthusiastic.
Create an extraordinary open world
” It was the evolution of open worlds that drew us to Unreal Engine 5. It opens up a whole new chapter for us. We can’t wait to see how our experience in creating open-world games will marry with the engineering power of Epic. “, he explained. CD Projekt RED is also betting on the UE5 to try to overcome one of the biggest challenges in creating an open world game: all the problems and bugs that arise when creating such a world.
What you have to keep in mind is that a lot of things can go wrong. The scenarios you need to consider are vastly larger than for linear games. Players can explore freely, approaching content in any order. You need a really stable environment to be able to make changes calmly knowing that it won’t break everything in 1600 other places.
– Jason Slama, Studio Game Director
In other words, CD Projekt RED hopes to ensure smooth development for The Witcher 4. And arguably avoid repeating the same mistakes made with Cyberpunk 2077. The end goal: “ create something extraordinary in the end “. We will have to wait a few more years to see if this choice will pay off or not.