Developer CD Projekt Red has finally confirmed The Witcher 4 is in development.
In a recent blog post labeled 'A New Saga Begins', the developer officially confirmed a new installment in The Witcher game series is on the way. The post gives little in the way of details, but does reveal that The Witcher 4 (or whatever the next entry in the long-running game series will be called) will use a different engine from the one previously used in the controversial Cyberpunk 2077 - with The Witcher 4 being developed in Unreal Engine 5 and Cyberpunk 2077 having been developed in REDEngine.
"We’re happy to announce that the next installment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise," CD Projekt Red said in the post. "This is an exciting moment as we’re moving from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5, beginning a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games. It covers not only licensing but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant. We’ll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences.
"At this point, no further details regarding the game — such as a development time frame or release date — are available."
There are no firm details on this new Witcher game, but we do know that it won't be exclusive to one storefront despite CD Projekt Red's strategic partnership with Epic Games.
Analysis: another outing for Geralt
The Witcher game series is based on the book series of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski. The critically acclaimed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the last mainline entry in CD Projekt Red's The Witcher game series, was first released back in 2015, making it seven years since we got our hands on a new Witcher game.
But it's no surprise that CD Projekt Red is developing a new entry in the series, given the success of Netflix's The Witcher TV series (and its spin-offs). The show is about to go into its third season.
While details on The Witcher 4 are thin right now, we're predicting we could see Ciri taking up the protagonist mantle in this new series entry. The image (above) released alongside the announcement shows a cat medallion in the snow (which belongs to Ciri), rather than Geralt's signature wolf medallion. What's more, the post is titled 'A New Saga', suggesting a major change is coming for the game series.
This hasn't been confirmed but, given The Witcher 3 seemed to mark the end of Geralt's adventures, Ciri heading up the next installment in the series would make sense.
We may not know much about the new Witcher game yet, but we're already pleased to hear that it'll be built on Unreal Engine 5 rather than REDengine. After all, Cyberpunk 2077 has been plagued with issues since its launch, and the developer certainly won't want a repeat with its most iconic franchise.
We're hoping we'll hear more about The Witcher 4 in the coming months (including when we can expect it) at events such as Gamescom 2022 but given, the new series entry appears to be in early development, don't expect the next Witcher outing to land anytime soon.
Correction: March 22, 2022
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released in 2007. The Witcher 3 was released in 2015.
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