Gaming
CD Projekt Red Stopped Building Game Engines So The Witcher IV Can Focus on the Story
The studio behind The Witcher 3 just explained why its engine building days are over. Speaking on the Deconstructor of Fun podcast, CD Projekt Red joint chief executive Michał Nowakowski laid out the thinking behind the company's move from its proprietary REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher IV and the Cyberpunk sequel. The Witcher IV, announced at The Game Awards 2024 with Ciri stepping in as protagonist, is penciled in for a 2028 launch window.
The trigger defied the popular assumption. Nowakowski said the decision grew from strategy rather than from Cyberpunk 2077's troubled 2020 launch, calling the popular theory "a bit of a false assumption" and insisting the problems with Cyberpunk traced to other causes rather than REDengine itself. What changed the company's mind was an early look at Epic's The Matrix Awakens tech demo. The team asked whether Unreal Engine 5 was ready to ship a game of their scale. The honest answer was that the entry level build still needed work, but a close working relationship with Epic plus targeted engineering could make it work. That turned into a strategic collaboration, the same partnership behind The Witcher IV tech demo shown at State of Unreal.
Nowakowski stated the philosophy plainly. The company's dream, he said, had always centered on something else entirely, creating visually and technically cutting edge games and telling stories in the most convincing and immersive way. Maintaining a proprietary engine had become an accidental second business. By handing the plumbing to Epic, CD Projekt Red gets to spend its energy on the parts players actually feel, worlds, characters and narrative. The remake of the original Witcher, in development with Fool's Theory, will ride the same Unreal Engine 5 foundation after The Witcher IV ships.
Zoom out and the pattern is unmistakable. The era of the bespoke in house engine is ending. One company after another has decided that rendering technology is infrastructure, like cloud hosting or payment processing, best left to specialists. That concentrates remarkable power in Epic's hands. Unreal Engine now renders some of the industry's biggest role playing games, and its roadmap increasingly shapes what every studio can build.
For players, this is good news wearing a complicated outfit. Every dollar a studio stops spending on engine maintenance is a dollar that can go toward quests, voice acting and world detail. The Witcher IV will be the first full proof of the trade. If Ciri's saga lands with the craft the series is known for, nobody will miss REDengine. They will just feel the story.
Quick answers
What is this story about?
The studio behind The Witcher 3 just explained why its engine building days are over. Speaking on the Deconstructor of Fun podcast, CD Projekt Red joint chief executive Michał Nowakowski laid out the thinking behind the company's move from its proprietary REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher IV and the Cyberpunk sequel. The Witcher IV, announced at The Game Awards 2024 with Ciri stepping in as protagonist, is penciled in for a 2028 launch window.
Why does this story matter?
For players, this is good news wearing a complicated outfit. Every dollar a studio stops spending on engine maintenance is a dollar that can go toward quests, voice acting and world detail. The Witcher IV will be the first full proof of the trade. If Ciri's saga lands with the craft the series is known for, nobody will miss REDengine. They will just feel the story.
Sources
- PlayStation Universe: The Witcher IV dev switched to Unreal Engine 5
- VGC: CD Projekt Red's move from REDengine to UE5 wasn't because of Cyberpunk's launch
New to crypto? Read the crypto glossary, browse frequent questions, read our story, or explore the story archive.