In a tech demo proven earlier this month on the State of Unreal showcase, the studio confirmed off the sport, taking part in the demo on a regular PlayStation 5 operating the sport at 60 frames-per-second with ray-tracing enabled. The Witcher 4’s improvement marks the primary time CD Projekt RED will abandon its proprietary REDengine in favor of utilizing Epic Video games’ Unreal Engine 5.
“I feel that once we began the collaboration [with Epic], we had tremendous excessive ambition for this venture, and we at all times do PC [first] and we push [the limits] after which we attempt to scale down [for console],” CDPR vice chairman of expertise Charles Tremblay stated of the choice to concentrate on console. “However then we had so many issues up to now that we tried to see, ‘OK, this time round we actually need to be extra [of] a console-first improvement, proper?’”
Though 2015’s The Witcher 3 launched to almost common acclaim, CD Projekt RED’s subsequent title — 2020’s Cyberpunk 2077 — didn’t fare nicely at launch. Regardless of a number of delays, the sport launched with quite a few bugs, and gamers on console seemingly obtained the brief finish of the stick, with Ps 4 and Xbox One gamers specifically complaining concerning the sport’s fixed crashes and framerate drops. Seven days after its December 10 launch, Cyberpunk 2077 was faraway from PlayStation’s digital storefronts, and wouldn’t return till June of the next 12 months. In the end, the sport was redeemed by its 2.0 replace, which coincided with the launch of its Phantom Liberty DLC. However regardless of Cyberpunk 2077 ultimately getting its comfortable ending, the rocky street it took to get there may be not a path CDPR devs need to tread once more with The Witcher 4.
“It’s fairly logical when you concentrate on it, as a result of it’s simpler to scale up than down,” CDPR vice chairman and world artwork director Jakub Knapik defined. “We knew that when we arrange sure foundations — each visually and technically — there’s room to scale up. Now, what which means is one other query. We’re CDPR: We at all times prefer to push PCs to the restrict. It’s only a inventive course of, [figuring out] the way to actually use it.”
However for non-console gamers who could also be involved concerning the sport’s efficiency on PC, CDPR devs say there’s no want to fret.
“Previously, one thing that’s tremendous vital for [us] is that if individuals pay good cash for his or her {hardware}, [then] we wish them to have what the sport can present for that, not like a simplified expertise,” Tremblay stated. “So that is one thing we’ll positively discover. The corporate began as a PC [gaming] firm, and we’ll positively need to have one of the best expertise for the PC gamer for positive. However it’s too early to say what this may imply for The Witcher 4.”
Tremblay did, nonetheless, categorical concern relating to launching The Witcher 4 on Xbox Collection S, describing it as a hurdle “that can positively be extraordinarily difficult” to beat.
