CD Projekt RED is now officially working on the next installment in The Witcher series, though the game likely won’t be entirely connected to the story of Geralt of Rivia.
In its official announcement, CD Projekt RED said this next entry will be “kicking off a new saga for the franchise” as the team moves to a new development engine and begins a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games.
Details on the game are likely going to be scarce for the foreseeable future, as CD Projekt RED noted it had “no further details regarding the game” like development timelines, gameplay, or release date to share.
The main piece of the announcement that will excite fans is that the developers are moving from its custom REDengine, which it has used on several previous projects and is still working in for Cyberpunk 2077, to Unreal Engine 5. This is where that partnership with Epic, the owner and developer of Unreal Engine, comes in.
CD Projekt RED will be working closely with Epic to tailor development within Unreal Engine 5 to open-world experiences. And even though the team at CD Projekt RED is partnering closely with Epic, it is mainly on the technological side. The company has already confirmed that it doesn’t plan on making the next Witcher title exclusive to any platform or storefront.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released in May 2015 and has since sold over 30 million copies, as of April 2021. An updated version of the game for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 is set to launch later this year. As a whole, The Witcher series of games has sold over 50 million copies.
