CD Projekt is sticking to its ambitious plan to release all three video games in the new Ciri-fronted The Witcher trilogy within a six-year period.
Speaking during a recent financial call, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said that future The Witcher video games “should be delivered in a shorter period of time.” That’s because CD Projekt has switched to Unreal Engine 5 for the full production of not only The Witcher 4, but The Witcher 5 and 6.
Here’s Nowakowski’s quote in full:
“We’ve been using UE5 for The Witcher 4 for almost four years now, and we’re very happy with what we’ve achieved. I think you could have seen some of that with your own eyes with our tech demo reveal at Unreal Fest couple of months ago, and we’re very happy with the results of that as well – we’ve already said that, but I’m always happy to say it again – and we’re happy with how the engine is evolving through the Epic team’s efforts, and how we are learning how to make it work within a huge open-world game, as TW4 is meant to be.
“In a way, yes, I do believe that further games should be delivered in a shorter period of time — as we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six-year period, so yes, that would mean we would plan to have a shorter development time between TW4 and TW5, between TW5 and TW6 and so on.”
That’s a hugely ambitious release plan that comes across as all the more surprising given The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was originally released on May 19, 2015 — four years after The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Based on Nowakowski’s comment, CD Projekt plans to release The Witcher 5 three years after The Witcher 4, then The Witcher 6 three years after that, assuming it wants to spread each release out equally.
As we’ve seen, AAA video game development can be a difficult endeavor that takes years to complete. Bethesda is still beavering away on The Elder Scrolls 6, which it announced in 2018. Microsoft’s new Fable game, due out in 2026, was announced in 2020, but development began before then. And there was a five-year gap between Sony’s release of Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei.
So, the idea that CD Projekt will release three new The Witcher games in six years is certainly ambitious, and it remains to be seen if this plan holds when all is said and done. But assuming it does, when can we expect the games to actually come out?
CD Projekt has indicated The Witcher 4 won’t be out in 2026, which means 2027 at the earliest. According to CD Projekt’s latest financial report, 447 people are currently working on The Witcher 4, up slightly from the number reported at the end of July. Clearly, it is CD Projekt’s focus right now, and production is in full swing. Let’s say The Witcher 4 comes out in November 2027. That would mean The Witcher 5 in 2030, and The Witcher 6 in 2033.
There are multiple spanners that may end up being thrown in the works. CD Projekt will no doubt have to manage a console transition, which may or may not occur before The Witcher 4 comes out. And who knows where the world, generally, will be in just a year’s time, let alone four or five? The video game industry, already struggling through perhaps the most transformative, disruptive time in its history, could be in a very different place in just a couple years. It’s just impossible to predict much of anything right now.
Meanwhile, CD Projekt has Cyberpunk 2 in the works, although that’s further behind The Witcher 4. Will Cyberpunk 2 come out in between one of these new The Witcher games, or will CD Projekt wait until the new trilogy is out before pulling the trigger? And let’s not forget The Witcher 1 remake CD Projekt is working on in some fashion. Will that launch amid the new trilogy? There are other projects too at various stages of development at the Polish company, as well as non-video game projects involving its IP. In short, CD Projekt has a lot going on. A hell of a lot.
CD Projekt recently ruled out The Witcher 4 from this month’s The Game Awards, so don’t expect any new trailer there. Our last look at the game came via the hugely impressive Unreal Engine 5 tech demo in June, which Nowakowski mentioned in his comment. So, don’t hold your breath for The Witcher 4, but when it finally comes out — assuming everything goes according to CD Projekt’s plan — fans are potentially in for an incredible six years.
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Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
