CD Projekt Red has announced the next installment in The Witcher video game series is currently under development using Unreal Engine 5. Previously, CD Projekt Red was using their own in-house engine REDengine for video games however the latest The Witcher game will be using Unreal Engine 5 as CD Projekt Red enters into a strategic partnership with Epic Games.
The newly-announced The Witcher comes after its previous critically acclaimed release of The Witcher 3 – Wild Hunt, a single-player AAA RPG. It won over 250 Game of the Year awards and received two beautiful expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine along with plenty of free DLC as well. The announcement does not reveal much about the new game however only a single image has been teased.
https://t.co/XtbfqscMWr pic.twitter.com/eK6ZIbfLRa
— The Witcher (@witchergame) March 21, 2022
The snowy image reveals a Witcher medallion of the Cat School of Witchers with the tagline A New Saga Begins. We all know that The Witcher 3 – Wild Hunt concluded the story of Geralt of Rivia which started in the original The Witcher. Three titles later, CD Projekt Red wrapped up the story in the most spectacular way possible, and to this day, The Witcher 3 is our favorite RPG.
The new title will also use the full power of the brand-new Unreal Engine 5 which is the result of a multi-year partnership with Epic Games. CD Projekt Red’s own propriety REDengine has been part of the franchise since The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings which was released back in 2011. The studio confirms that the partnership not only covers licensing but also technical development of Unreal Engine 5 along with potential future versions of Unreal Engine where relevant.
CD Projekt Red will collaborate with Epic Games with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences beginning with the development of the next game in The Witcher franchise. CTO of CD PROJEKT RED, Paweł Zawodny commented on the use of Unreal Engine 5 for this and future games:
One of the core aspects of our internal RED 2.0 Transformation is a much stronger focus on technology, and our cooperation with Epic Games is based on this principle. From the outset, we did not consider a typical licensing arrangement; both we and Epic see this as a long-term, fulfilling tech partnership. It is vital for CD PROJEKT RED to have the technical direction of our next game decided from the earliest possible phase as; in the past, we spent a lot of resources and energy to evolve and adapt REDengine with every subsequent game release. This cooperation is so exciting, because it will elevate development predictability and efficiency, while simultaneously granting us access to cutting-edge game development tools. I can’t wait for the great games we’re going to create using Unreal Engine 5.
Tim Sweeney, Founder, and CEO of Epic Games also added:
Epic has been building Unreal Engine 5 to enable teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity. We are deeply honored by the opportunity to partner with CD PROJEKT RED to push the limits of interactive storytelling and gameplay together, and this effort will benefit the developer community for years to come.
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CD Projekt Red has also announced that the REDengine has not been retired yet and the upcoming expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 is based on this engine. Additional details such as the development time frame or release date will be released in the upcoming months.
