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We still don’t know a huge amount about The Witcher 4. But we do know it represents two big changes for the series thus far. The first change is, of course, that Ciri will replace Geralt as the lead character. The second is that CD Projekk will replace its in-house REDengine with Unreal Engine 5.
There’s been considerable speculation as to why CDP is abandoning tech that’s delivered some of the most cutting-edge visuals of the last decade, with some fans suggesting that Cyberpunk 2077’s difficult development and compromised initial release might be a factor. But the studio’s co-CEO Michał Nowakowski has formally dismissed this suggestion, stating the decision had more to do with CD Projekt’s general ambitions than Cyberpunk specifically.
Speaking on the Deconstructor of Fun podcast (via GamesRadar+), Nowakowski addressed the claim that Cyberpunk was the straw that broke REDengine’s back: “A lot of people think like this, but this is a bit of a false assumption,” he explained. “Because the issue with Cyberpunk was not really REDengine itself.
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Instead, Nowakowski said that CD Projekt never really wanted to be an engine developer in the first place, stating that. “The dream of the company was actually never to make technology.” He conceded that CD Projekt did want to make “visually and technically cutting edge games”, for which in-house tech seemed to be the optimal solution for the studio. But what ultimately drives the company is “telling the stories in the most convincing and immersive way.”
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Hence, when CD Projekt’s leadership saw The Matrix Awakens demo of Unreal Engine 5, they decided that adopting third-party tech would be preferable to continuing building their own tech. “If we form a relationship with Unreal and if we work on certain things which are specifically required to make games of the size and scope and certain technicalities about it that we need for games, it could actually work.”
With this in mind, CD Projekt pitched a “strategic collaboration” to Epic, where they would not simply license the tech but influence its direction from the inside. “We’re actually, I think, the only team in the world outside of Epic that deals with the inside of the ‘black box’ that the engine is. Nobody else is doing that except for us and them, which we do through collaborative efforts together,” Nowakowski remarked.
It’ll be interesting to see what impact CD Projekt’s input has on Unreal Engine 5 going forward, since the tech has thus far gained a reputation for being a stuttering mess. I’m also intrigued as to whether CD Projekt’s input is limited to Unreal Engine 5, or whether the studio’s voice carries through to the AI-heavy Unreal Engine 6—given Nowakowski’s previous statement that the company isn’t “planning to rely on AI making complete games”.
