Polish Videogame Studio CD Projekt Red is all set for its flagship franchise’s latest installment. So, we’ve got some interesting details to share with you today, right here.
CD Projekt Red Building A Slow-Burn Hype
In case you’re not a gamer, there’s a lot of buzz and excitement in the air for everything related to AAA videogames studio CD Projekt Red. Viewing the huge playerbase it’s safe to say their most popular franchise is The Witcher, the last outing of this series was almost a decade ago titled The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It has lifetime sales surpassing a colossal 50 million units as of March 2023 last year.
Naturally, the fans’ expectations and excitement for the new entry is something undeniable for the developers. Having said that, the marketing for Witcher 4 or Polaris is being handled with a level of precision and restraint. Especially in comparison to its other blockbuster IP, namely Cyberpunk 2077. It had a rocky start, though. Optimization problems and bugs galore are plaguing it at launch. Not to mention the plethora of features left behind on the cutting board.
So, to curb any chance of overpromising and under-serving, the CEO, Michael Nowkowski, is adopting the strategy of small teases. He then lets the speculation run rampant. Speaking with Eurogamer, Mr. Nowkowski stated that:
“The next game we do will not be smaller, and it will not be worse. So it will be better, bigger, and greater than The Witcher 3, it will be better than Cyberpunk – because for us, it’s unacceptable (referring to the Cyberpunk launch issues). We don’t want to go back.”
While the phrasing might seem vague, it’s a clear indication of the ambition, the creative drive, and the passion for the IP. Safe to say that the acknowledgment of the past mistakes is a step in the right direction as far earning the confidence of players and the passionate fanbase.
The Witcher 4 Teaser Image Engaging The Entire Fandom
Recently, the game director for The Witcher 4, or Polaris, Mr. Sebastian Kalemba, provided the update that the game is under full-scale production and out of the pre-production stage. The occasion was marked with a teaser image of a coin, letting the community start playing the guessing game. The exact phrasing by Mr. Sebastian Kalemba on X (formerly known as Twitter) is the following:
“I’m thrilled that Project Polaris has entered the full scale production phase! With new challenges just around the corner, it’s the talented and hardworking people who make me believe we can work together (to) make the upcoming Witcher Saga a remarkable experience. No stopping now! Stay tuned for what’s on the other side of the coin.”
This is the kind of approach that seems consistent with the description relayed to the public by CD Projekt Red CEO Michael Nowkowski, who goes on record to state:
“We want to drop the crumbs here and there, so the people – and the media as well – can pick up on it and try to figure out what it is we’re trying to say this time.”
Basically, the idea is to “whet the appetite of the fans.” From the looks of things, the online discourse after the teaser dropped, the strategy is clearly working, as there is an uptick in all things Witcher. As for the coin image, there are a number of possibilities, but most likely, it contains a hint of the next game’s backdrop setting, or perhaps it’s just there to tide the fans over till the second half of the coin is revealed.
CD Projekt Red Swapping In-House Game Engine For Unreal Engine 5. Why?
The next Witcher game will be in Unreal Engine 5, truly ‘A Witcher’s work is never done’.
One of the more curious development updates regarding CD Projekt Red and The Witcher 4, in general, is about the game engine switch. Yes, the in-house RED engine is being left out for the much-in-demand Unreal Engine 5.
The surprising bombshell news made for a lot of speculation and rumors, but things were cleared up by the top brass at the company. The Vice-President of Technology at CD Projekt Red, Mr. Charles Tremblay, spoke about this at length during his interview with Eurogamer. He dismissed the idea that their own engine was responsible for the troubles and technical problems with Cyberpunk 2077.
“The first thing I want to say again, to be sure, 100 percent clear, is that the whole team, myself included, are extremely proud of the engine we built for Cyberpunk. So it is not about, ‘This is so bad, we need to switch,’ and you know, ‘Kill me now’ – that is not true. That is not true, and this is not why the decision was made to switch.”
There were two major reasons for this move.
1.) Streamlined Production
Mr. Tremblay goes further to explain the exact reason so as to quell any doubts about the engine swap. It was, in essence, a strategic business decision for streamlining the production of multiple projects in the pipeline at CD Projekt Red, including The Witcher 4/ Project Polaris; then there is the sequel to Cyberpunk titled Orion, and a brand new IP which is only known as Hadar. Mr. Tremblay then continues to divulge the true reason for the engine switch by explaining how CD Projekt Red operated in the past and what needed to change:
“The way we built stuff in the past was very one-sided, like one project at a time. We pushed the limit – but also we saw that if we wanted to have a multi-project at the same time, building in parallel, sharing technology together, it is not easy.”
This explains why the change to the game-engine was necessary, but there’s another reason for the switch to Unreal Engine 5.
2.) Strategic Partnership With Epic Games
The other purpose of switching out the RED engine for Unreal Engine 5 was the desire by CD Projekt Red to acquire expertise and form a meaningful partnership with Epic Games, the owners of Unreal Engine 5. The pooling of resources and sharing knowledge between the two companies would elevate, accelerate, and give better quality control over the game development process. Mr. Charles Tremblay elaborated on this by saying:
“Having a good partnership with Epic and working together on the technology… We can help them achieve their vision to do open-world game(s), and they can help us too, from some technical perspective. We can share expertise, share people, share knowledge. Also, we wanted to be sure that we developed some of the technology correctly this time around – with our expertise, we know how to do things with the experience we had in the past, and now it’s time to actually make it shareable across all the groups.“
Essentially, this means that the technical aspect is being partially outsourced to Epic Games for a fruitful partnership between the two companies. This allows CD Projekt Red to focus on games like The Witcher 4 without worrying too much about the performance, technical, and visual problems.
New Novel Featuring Series Protagonist Geralt Out
For the enthusiastic fans of CD Projekt Red and The Witcher 4, there is more from the franchise. So, if you’re searching for additional content based on the IP, it’s worth checking out. In case someone doesn’t know, the Witcher games and the Netflix television series are both based on a series of fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The latest installment in the novel series is out now. The CD Projekt Red CEO, Michal Nowakowski, is one of the first people to get it.
Recently sharing a picture on X, Mr. Nowkowski is soaking up all the lore from the latest novel. A heads up, though, if you’re not an English speaker, you might want to hold off. That’s because the novel’s yet to be translated. It’s also officially only available in the Polish language. From what little information there is, it seems that the novel covers tales from the titular hero Geralt The Witcher’s youthful years. The title roughly translates to ‘Crossroads of Ravens’.
What We Know So Far About CD Projekt Red And The Witcher 4
To recap what we know so far from CD Proket Red and the much anticipated Witcher 4, we’ll go over all available information from official sources.
Financially, the company is in a very stable place. The 2024 final quarter revenue charts show a spike in sales of the Witcher trilogy compared to the same time last year. On the other hand, sales of Cyberpunk (after completing development, updates, and Phantom Liberty DLC) are in decline (but that’s understandable).
Despite its in-game engine swapping for Unreal Engine 5, the team remains committed to its ambitions. They’re planning to exceed those expectations. The plan is to make The Witcher 4 bigger, better, and greater than both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.
There is no exact release date. However, based on the conference call information from 2022, The Witcher 4’s expected timeline is sometime in 2025.
The Witcher 4 will undergo significantly larger-scale development to avoid crunch. Plus, the marketing will be much more controlled and precise with teases.
Conclusion
We’ll round off our coverage of CD Projekt Red and its much anticipated Project Polaris/The Witcher 4 by asking your thoughts on them. Tell us your takes on what could be the next game’s setting. Also, would you like to see Ciri take the leading role or perhaps a different protagonist altogether? If you’re interested purely in the financial aspect of it all, there may be troubling times for big tech companies ahead with Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. We’ve given our analysis of that, along with a comprehensive overview of the tech industry.
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