CD Projekt Red, as influential as it is, has said it cannot do anything to guarantee a PlayStation 5 disc-based edition of The Witcher 4 when the game is released in 2028. It is, joint joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski said, at the mercy of Sony’s manufacturing factories.

“We don’t know what’s going to be the case,” Nowakowski told The Game Business at Gamescom last week. “We know what PlayStation has announced. And we have no influence on the policies of the first parties. The discs for the first parties, including PlayStation, have to be manufactured in their own factories. So, if they stop manufacturing indeed by 2028, then yes [we won’t have a disc].”

Sony’s current and controversial plan is to stop disc manufacturing starting January 2028, but whether this will be a hard cut-off date or a softer, more rolling discontinuation remains to be seen. Nor do we know exactly when in 2028 The Witcher 4 will be released.

For reference, The Witcher 3 arrived in May 2015 (though it originally targeted an autumn 2014 release before being delayed a couple of times), whereas Cyberpunk 2077 arrived in December 2020 (after missing an April release date and then a September release date and then a November release date). I expect, given The Witcher 4’s pulling power, CD Projekt Red is aiming for the blockbuster-favouring autumn. Its chances of dodging the PS5 disc discontinuation cut-off, then, are slim.

“We’re big fans of people having access to tangible collectible things” -Michał Nowakowski

Nevertheless, CD Projekt Red has pledged to make a physical edition of The Witcher 4 however it can. “We’re big fans of people having access to tangible collectible things,” Nowakowski said. “We’re nerds ourselves, and we like that. We always supported that. So, whatever is the case, we’re going to be for sure having a box. We’re going to have a box that’s going to have some feelies in it. Something you’re going to be wanting to open up and enjoy. But we have no influence actually on what’s the case here.”

It was Nowakowski who narrowed The Witcher 4’s release date to 2028 recently – it had previously lurked in a vague ‘not before 2027’ position. But the studio has plenty to bide the time with until then in the form of The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, the unlikely expansion to its best-selling 11-year-old game that will be released next year. Alongside this, and probably because of this, CD Projekt Red has also remastered The Witcher 3, not just visually but also from a gameplay standpoint, overhauling combat, enemy behaviour, skill trees, horse riding, and more. And that Remastered edition arrives 29th September.