The Witcher 4: Release Date and Production Details Revealed
The Witcher 4 is in development, and the update is not official, but there are a few confusions around the installment that must be cleared up.
- The Witcher 4 is coming, but the exact time isn't yet announced.
- For the first time, CD Projekt Red is shifting to Unreal Engine 5 with this upcoming game.
- A very crucial question is who is going to be the protagonist this time.
The Witcher 4’s development news was revealed a long time ago in 2022, but after that, there wasn’t any update about how much the development process has progressed or when the game will be released. However, after two years, CD Projekt Red has come up with some exciting news about The Witcher 4 development and when players can expect to get the game.
The Witcher series is one of the best action RPG series of all time and lets players experience the adventures of Geralt of Rivia, a monster slayer known as a Witcher. Up to the third installment, this series has presented players with loads of unforgettable experiences, and naturally, the expectation is high with The Witcher 4.
The Witcher 4 Is Now Officially in Development
Project Polaris is now confirmed to enter the official production procedure. When CD Projekt Red shared news about the upcoming The Witcher game in 2022, fans were all excited about it. However, the developer team shared no further update with them until two years later, in November 2024.
November 26, 2024, is a remarkable day for The Witcher fans, as the game director, Sebastian Kalemba, has taken it to X (formerly Twitter) and shared an update about the upcoming installment of the series. The announcement states, “I’m thrilled to announce that Project Polaris has entered the full-scale production phase!”
He further showed gratitude toward the team for the constant hard work and mentioned there’s no stopping now. According to another report, most of CD Projekt Red’s staff, like 400 people out of 650, are now involved in making Project Polaris a full-length game.
This may look like the company has no other running project at this point, but that’s not the case. A Cyberpunk game is in development, a Witcher spin-off is in the works, and several other games are in development. However, to prioritize the development of The Witcher 4, the developer company has reduced staff in every other sector.
When Is the Next Witcher Installment Coming Out?
The latest update only revealed that the upcoming The Witcher game is officially in development now, but there’s no report of how much progress has been made and what’s still left. Therefore, naturally, no approximate date of release was revealed.
Without any information about the progress, it is hard to tell any release time, but based on a statement that the CD Project Red CEO Adam Kicinski made two years back, which stated the game would take three years to come, we can predict it will be released sometime in 2025.
However, it may take some more time because the development of the game is going through a major shift. With the upcoming The Witcher installment, it is the first time this Polish video game developer company has shifted to Unreal Engine from the RED engine. This shift seems easy, but it’s actually not. So, the game may take more time than expected to become the final polished version.
What Players Can Expect to Get In the Witcher 4?
When a popular series gets a new installment, players often get excited about the storyline, and when it is The Witcher game, this curiosity is understandable. The developer team already declared that the upcoming installment is not going to be a renewed version of The Witcher 3; instead, it will be the “beginning of a new saga.” Along with that, the team has a plan to release two more games to create a AAA trilogy.
As of now, the only thing that is confirmed is that the name of the upcoming game will contain “The Witcher,” but it won’t probably be called The Witcher 4, as CD Projekt Red co-founder, Marcin Iwinski, once confirmed that “The Witcher was designed as a trilogy and a trilogy cannot have a fourth part, can it?”
If you have played the last part, The Witcher 3, you have already seen that the saga of Geralt has come to a conclusion. He is already an old man who’s going to spend his retirement away from all these adventures. Therefore, he is potentially not the face in the next game.
An interview with Geralt’s voice actor Doug Cockle in 2024 confirmed this suspicion as he straightforwardly mentioned,
“Geralt will be part of the game, we just don’t know how much, and the game won’t focus on Geralt. So it’s not about him this time.”
The most potential contender to take on this responsibility of continuing the saga forward is Ciri. However, there are some issues with her being the protagonist, especially if you have lost her at the end of The Witcher 3. It doesn’t make sense to get her as the main character as it will affect the continuity.
Therefore, we are still unsure what’s going to be in the upcoming installment and who’s going to be the next protagonist to continue the saga forward after Geralt of Rivia.
