New Witcher game announced, will use Unreal Engine 5
Seven years after its last release, fans of The Witcher game series are in for a package treat after CD Projekt Red has announced that a new game is in development.
Last week, the Warsaw-based game publisher proved that the franchise is alive more than ever after officially announcing that a fourth Witcher game is currently in the works.
“We’re happy to announce that the next installment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise,” CDPR said in a statement on their website.
To complement with the title’s “A New Saga Begins” clause, CDPR highlighted that the new game commences a massive 15-year partnership with fellow game maker Epic Games, developer of hit battle royale game Fortnite and third-person shooting title Gears of War.
The partnership, as mentioned in the statement, covers not only licensing for the new the Witcher game but also the use of Epic’s Unreal Engine 5 as well, highlighting their primary target of improving the open-world set-up. This marks a new visual graphics for the franchise which has been using CDPR’s very own REDengine since the release of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011.
“It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant,” the statement said. “We’ll closely collaborate with Epic Games’ developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences.”
Fans have nothing to worry about though as such a huge joining of forces will not touch exclusivity. In a tweet, CDPR made it clear that both parties have not inked a marketing deal in their collaboration.
Aside from teasing what could possibly be the game’s logo, CDPR is still mum about further details about the game, such as story, setting, or even the release date; and it is easy to assume that the Polish company has a lot on their plate as of the moment, particularly with other titles such as Cyberpunk 2077. (Read: Cyberpunk 2077 hits 13 million in sales despite refunds)
“REDengine, the technology which powers Cyberpunk 2077, is still being used for the development of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 expansion,” said CDPR to finish the statement. The first self-titled installment of the franchise, which was released in 2007, used BioWare’s Aurora Engine. The two successors, namely Assassin of Kings and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, used CDPR’s very own REDengine. Both games won multiple Game of the Year awards in their respective release years in 2011 and 2015.
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