Summary
The Witcher 4won’t leave consoles as an afterthought the wayCyberpunk 2077did, a senior CD Projekt Red official has revealed. This claim was offered as part of a wider retrospective on howthe troubled launch ofCyberpunk 2077is informing CDPR’s future projects.
Not much has been revealed about the fourth mainline installment inThe Witcherseries since CDPR confirmed in 2022 that the game itself is happening. Based on the few tidbits that the studio shared over the next year,The Witcher 4is code-named Polarisand won’t actually have a number in its title, on top of being planned to release before the upcoming remake of the originalThe Witchergame from 2007.
And while the development ofThe Witcher 4remains shrouded in mystery, CDPR Management and Audio Engineering Director Colin Walder has now shed some light on one notable aspect of the project; during his recent appearance at the ninth Inven Game Conference in Pangyo, South Korea, Walder revealed that CDPR adopted a much more platform-inclusive approach to the development of project Polaris.
Specifically, the studio is already running demos and internal performance reviews on consoles, the official revealed. Walder acknowledged how console testing is something CDPR only started doing during the later stages ofCyberpunk 2077’s development, with less than ideal results, to put it mildly.
The Witcher 4should consequently do a much better job at offering acceptable console performance at launch compared toCyberpunk 2077. That’s all the more important given how the upcoming title might end up being another cross-gen release for CDPR. As a reminder, the technical issues plaguingCyberpunk 2077at launch largely stemmed from the game’s PS4 and Xbox One versions, both of which struggled to maintain a stable frame rate, among other problems. The fiasco ended up being a costly mistake for CDPR, with the company recently revealing thatfixingCyberpunk 2077set the developer back over $126 million.
Granted, since the game broke even on pre-orders alone—selling 8 million units ahead of release—and surpassed 25 million sales come October 2023, its disastrous launch was ultimately a mistake whose fix CDPR was able to afford. However, the studio has long been open about the fact thatrepairing its relationship with the fandom followingCyberpunk 2077’s releasewill take much longer. Ensuring that it doesn’t make the same mistakes moving forward is an inherent part of that ongoing process, with Walder suggesting as much during his recent appearance in South Korea.
The Witcher 4is currently in development.
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