We have known for a few days that "" is in the next phase of development, the so-called full production, in which CD Projekt is working at full speed on the new witcher adventure.
In a detailed interview with the siteEurogamerCo-CEO Michal Nowakowski, among others, spoke out and made some exciting statements. We summarize the most interesting passages for you here in the article.
Reasons for switching to Unreal Engine
A big focus topic in the interview with Eurogamer is the engine change that has been made in the development of future games. In the future, titles like “The Witcher 4” will no longer be developed in the in-house REDengine, but in Epic’s Unreal Engine.
CD Projekt gives two reasons for changing the engine:
- With the Unreal Engine, CD Projekt can do bettermultiple projects at the same timedevelop
- The partnership with Epic:While you can promote open world games in the UE yourself, Epic Games serves as a partner to provide advice and support on technical questions. This allows CD Projekt to better concentrate on other aspects of game development
So the idea was that we can advance the technology and finally allow all the technical people in the company to work together on different projects, instead of focusing on a technology that is difficult to share between other projects.
- Charles Tremblay, Vice President of Technology bei CDPR
CD Projekt wants to raise the bar further with The Witcher 4
In the further course of the Eurogamer interview article, Michal Nowakowski shares extremely ambitious statements by which CDPR will have to be measured in the future. The Witcher 4 should once again raise the bar for in-house games:
And the next game we make will be no smaller and no worse. So it's going to be better, bigger, grander thanThe Witcher 3, it will be better than Cyberpunk. (...) We don't want to go back.
Even though there will be some 'sweaty moments' and maybe even some bad things will happen, I still think we will try everything to achieve even more than what we have achieved in previous years. In principle, technology should not be an obstacle for us.
- Michal Nowakowski, Co-CEO at CDPR
New procedure aims to prevent launch catastrophe
Another very interesting point is raised by Charles Tremblay, Vice President of Technology at CDPR. This is a new procedure that was introduced in response to the sometimes disastrous publication ofwas introduced.
Essentially, it's about giving pre-production more time and regularly checking whether the technology is ready for individual projects. Communication across CD Projekt's studios scattered around the world has been improved and recommendations are communicated to the board together with all game directors.
Non-working console builds are no longer acceptable
The new process is also intended to ensure that the technical side meets your own requirements across all platforms and that console versions are not at a significantly lower technical level.
The fact that console versions only work super late is no longer acceptable and is part of our process. That's why we check consoles directly and know what technical level all platforms are at.
- Charles Tremblay, Vice President of Technology bei CDPR
There should be no more “Oh, the PC version is fine, let’s move on” in the future.
The Witcher 4 is planned as a multiplatform release
When asked whether a delayed release such as, which first appeared on PC, then on PS5 and finally on Xbox Series X / S, would not also be a way to minimize technical problems, CDPR also gives a concrete statement.
This is actually something we've discussed, but we're not 100% sure. (...) As it currently looks, there will not only be a PC version (of The Witcher 4) when it is released. I don't think this is a strategy we want to pursue now.
- Charles Tremblay, Vice President of Technology bei CDPR
According to Tremblay, to put it bluntly, there will certainly not be a release on 20 platforms, but a multi-platform release is currently being planned.
Time will prove CD Projekt right - or not
Finally, we would like to point out again at this point that, given the current level of knowledge about The Witcher 4, any statements made should be treated with caution. Even before the release of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt had shown itself to be extremely self-confident and ambitious - even communicating that the game would be available on the last gen"surprisingly good"running.
Only time will tell whether the new engine and new processes actually guarantee a smooth release.
What do you think of the recent statements and do you think that CD Projekt has learned from its past mistakes?
