Details of the development of The Witcher 4.

Why CDPR switched to UE and what lessons it learned from Cyberpunk 2077.

They want to make the game bigger and better than the third part.

Eurogamer edition published material dedicated to the development of the next part of The Witcher. In the article, journalists collected details about the development of the game that CD Project RED specialists shared with them during several interviews over the past two years. We chose the main thing from the material.

About the transition to Unreal Engine:

CD Project RED switched to Unreal Engine because the developers wanted to work on multiple projects at the same time. Thanks to the use of one engine, specialists were able to switch between projects, be it the next part of The Witcher or the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077.
Previously, CD PR had always worked on only one project at a time, which had a negative impact on development time. The updated approach allows teams to create games in parallel, as well as share their work with each other.
Another reason to switch to Unreal Engine is to benefit from the partnership with Epic Games. CD PR believes that the company will be able to help developers in some technical aspects.
RED engine was not abandoned because there was anything wrong with it. The studio is proud of this engine, but believes that the transition to Unreal Engine will benefit the creation of future games.

About The Witcher 4:

When working on the next Witcher, CDPR is maintaining its traditional ambitious approach. They intend to make the game better and bigger compared to the third part.
The developers learned important lessons after the release of Cyberpunk 2077, which had many technical problems at launch. The company assured that a second such release would be unacceptable for it. CDPR does not intend to repeat the mistakes of Cyberpunk 2077, so the next Witcher will come out polished.
After the unsuccessful launch of Cyberpunk 2077, the company changed the production process itself. The studio gave developers more time in the pre-production phase to avoid mistakes even at the stages of technical planning and prototyping.
CDPR began conducting regular technical reviews to clearly understand the state of the project and whether more time needed to be spent on the current stage, if necessary.
The company has changed its approach to developing different versions of the game. CDPR is now closely monitoring all platforms to ensure that the game doesn’t work fine on PC but not on consoles.
The company will not announce the release date of the next Witcher too early to avoid postponements. CDPR will only do this when they are truly confident in the release timing.
The marketing campaign for the next Witcher will be longer than that of Phantom Liberty (about six months), but less protracted than that of Cyberpunk 2077 (two years). Even before the announcement, CDPR will gradually begin to stir up interest by publishing various materials.
At least a year will pass between the announcement of The Witcher 4 and its release, but most likely less than two years. The game will be released simultaneously on PC and consoles, without exclusive periods.