CD Projekt RED has announced they are creating the next installment in The Witcher franchise, and it will kick off a new saga. The announcement was accompanied by an image of a medallion in the snow, giving very little details away and leaving fans with an important question: will the new saga involve Geralt and Ciri?
What do we know about the new The Witcher game?
The upcoming The Witcher game will be the start of a new saga for the franchise. No further details were announced, leaving fans with more questions than answers. Will Geralt and Ciri be involved in the new game, or will there be a new protagonist altogether? Will the game be a sequel, a prequel, or a completely new storyline? Will there be any new game mechanics? CD Projekt RED’s Global PR Director Radek Grabowski has said that they aren’t answering any questions on “story, characters, mechanics, or plot details” right now, but Gwent’s Game Director Jason Slama will be directing the new The Witcher game. Philipp Weber, the person responsible for the easter egg in The Witcher 3 that took seven years to find, is the Acting Campaign Director.
We do know the game will not be called The Witcher 4. The game will also be making the switch to Unreal Engine 5 from REDengine as part of a multi-year partnership with Epic Games. The developer’s CTO Paweł Zawodny explained more:
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. From the outset, we did not consider a typical licensing arrangement; both we and Epic see this as a long-term, fulfilling tech partnership. 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!
The developer didn’t mention when we would be getting more information on the game’s platforms, release date, or anything else really. It does sound like the game is in the early stages of development, so it might be a while before we hear more.
In other news, the latest studio to be welcomed into the PlayStation Studios fold is Jade Raymond’s Haven Studios. Their upcoming game was also confirmed to be AAA multiplayer experience. Elsewhere, Arc System Works’ next fighting game will be DNF Duel, due to be released for PS5 and PS4 at the end of June.
