A new report via Eurogamer dives deep into CD Projekt Red’s (CDPR) mindset as a developer for what’s to come with The Witcher 4, and it seems that lessons have been learned from Cyberpunk 2077‘s somewhat disastrous launch. Addressing the major issue of “magical thinking” when it comes to overselling and overestimating the studio’s ambitions, the joint CEO Michal Nowakowski confirmed that whilst the company “always will be ambitious”, they added “it will be better than Cyberpunk… we don’t want to go back”.
The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was one riddled with controversy, as the game’s extremely poor performance led to the removal of the game from the PlayStation Store – with Sony even going so far as to fully refund gamers who bought the title on release. Thankfully, CDPR are now showing enhanced awareness of these issues, which may alleviate fears many of us may have over a potential launch of The Witcher 4.
Reassuringly for fans of The Witcher, the same interview confirms that the fourth game in the series is now in full-scale production, with Geralt of Rivia still featured in some regard, but no longer the primary focus of the next game. We also have the previously confirmed information that CDPR will no longer be using its own internal engine, REDengine, instead opting for Epic’s Unreal Engine.
Whilst Cyberpunk 2077 may have been referred to throughout primarily in regards to its failures at launch, CDPR still deserves to be commended for the mass of fixes, improvements and additions to the game in response to its terrible launch. There’s even hope for the future of the franchise, as its confirmed sequel is referenced in the Eurogamer interview, with discussion on why the CDPR team chose to set up development for the next Cyberpunk game in Boston.
What do you want to see next from CD Projekt Red? Are you looking forward to The Witcher 4, and what lessons do you think should’ve been learned from Cyberpunk 2077? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more breaking gaming news.
