CD Projekt RED has announced a new Witcher game is in development, and it will change things up a bit with development.
While we know new Witcher game is in development, it will apparently use Unreal Engine 5 instead of CD Projekt’s in-house REDengine.
The new game was revealed alongside the above teaser artwork and the phrase “A New Saga Begins.” That’s all we have to go on for now – but this apparently confirms “a new saga in The Witcher franchise.”
For those concerned this means the game will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store – CD Projekt has already confirmed this will not be the case.
The last main game in the series, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has been available for Windows PC (via GOG, Origin, and Steam), Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. In case you missed it, you can read our review for the base game here. The game’s next-gen upgrades were also delayed to Q2 2022.
The move to Unreal Engine 5 is a “multi-year strategic partnership” with Epic Games. While a new Witcher game is in development, the game will use Unreal Engine, Cyberpunk 2077’s forthcoming expansion will still use their in-house REDengine.
“One of the core aspects of our internal RED 2.0 Transformation is a much stronger focus on technology, and our cooperation with Epic Games is based on this principle,” said CTO of CD PROJEKT RED, Paweł Zawodny. “From the outset, we did not consider a typical licensing arrangement; both we and Epic see this as a long-term, fulfilling tech partnership.”
He added, “It is vital for CD PROJEKT RED to have the technical direction of our next game decided from the earliest possible phase as; in the past, we spent a lot of resources and energy to evolve and adapt REDengine with every subsequent game release. This cooperation is so exciting, because it will elevate development predictability and efficiency, while simultaneously granting us access to cutting-edge game development tools. I can’t wait for the great games we’re going to create using Unreal Engine 5!”
“Epic has been building Unreal Engine 5 to enable teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity,” said Tim Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Epic Games. “We are deeply honored by the opportunity to partner with CD PROJEKT RED to push the limits of interactive storytelling and gameplay together, and this effort will benefit the developer community for years to come.”
