Starting with The Witcher 4, CD Projekt Red CEO says the entire next Witcher trilogy starring Ciri is still expected to launch within a six year time frame

• CD Projekt Red still plans to release its next Witcher trilogy within a six year time period
• Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski says CPR is happy with what it's achieved with its use of Unreal Engine 5
• Nowakowski suggests Unreal Engine 5 will allow shorter development time between The Witcher 4, 5, and 6

CD Projekt Red has reaffirmed its plan to release its next trilogy of Witcher games within a six-year time frame.

In the company's latest financial call (via IGN), joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said the development period between each new Witcher game, which are set to star Ciri in the titular role, will be much shorter, mainly thanks to the switch to Unreal Engine 5.

"We've been using UE5 for The Witcher 4 for almost four years now, and we’re very happy with what we've achieved," Nowakowski said.

"I think you could have seen some of that with your own eyes with our tech demo reveal at Unreal Fest couple of months ago, and we're very happy with the results of that as well – we've already said that, but I'm always happy to say it again – and we're happy with how the engine is evolving through the Epic team’s efforts, and how we are learning how to make it work within a huge open-world game, as The Witcher 4 is meant to be."

The CEO continued, suggesting that because CDPR is using Unreal Engine 5, after The Witcher 4 launches, The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6 will have a "shorter development" window.

"In a way, yes, I do believe that further games should be delivered in a shorter period of time — as we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six-year period, so yes, that would mean we would plan to have a shorter development time between 4 and 5, between 5 and 6 and so on," he said.

Unfortunately, Nowakowski didn't offer a hint as to when we can expect the first game in the trilogy to launch, but CDPR has suggested that The Witcher 4 is unlikely to launch before 2027.

In addition to its Witcher trilogy, CDPR is also working on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, which is now in pre-production, though the game is certain to release after The Witcher 4.

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