CD Projekt RED has given a new update on The Witcher 4‘s development, which could prove to be bad news for PC gamers. It’s obviously far too early to get all doom-and-gloom about The Witcher 4, but this latest update will definitely come as a disappointment to those planning to play the game on PC.
Since The Witcher 4‘s reveal last year, individuals at CD Projekt RED have been pretty vocal about the studio’s process for creating the game. This has allowed fans a unique insight into the development mindset in the studio about a game that they still know very little about. For example, The Witcher 4‘s narrative director recently spoke about the game’s quest design, and how CD Projekt RED’s previous titles inspired it. It would be cool to see this level of openness continue throughout the road to release.
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In a new interview with Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia, CD Projekt RED’s VP of technology Charles Tremblay said, “We have super-high ambition for this project, and we always do PC and we push and then we try to scale down. But then we had so many problems in the past that we tried to see, okay, this time around we really want to be more console-first [in] development.” Those who remember the Cyberpunk 2077 refund debacle may understand this approach. After Cyberpunk 2077 released in a rough technical state on last-gen consoles, players on both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were eventually allowed to request refunds for the title, which, for many, was near-unplayable. With this, the studio is looking to avoid repeating previous mistakes by ensuring the console versions are the priority.
The Witcher 4 is Being Developed With a “Console-First” Approach
According to Tremblay, “We worked with Unreal and then we saw the challenge to realize the ambition that to make what we want at 60 fps on PS5, there would be work. This is why we started to talk to figure out what needs to be done with the technology and we also decided that we need to have all these things that need to be developed. Where we go from there, it’s hard to say, but right now we really wanted to focus on ‘What does it mean to make this ambition [a reality] on a console?'”
The Witcher 4‘s Unreal Engine 5 tech demo was undoubtedly impressive, console-first or not. However, developing a game for PC first and scaling down to meet the technical limitations of consoles allows for more ambition. Still, it remains to be seen what compromises are made as a result of this mantra, which will come as frustrating to some who are planning to pick up The Witcher 4 on PC. For console players, though, this is definitely great news, and a sign that The Witcher 4 will be a great experience on both Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
…this time around we really want to be more console-first [in] development.
A release date for The Witcher 4 is likely to be some time away yet. In the meantime, rumors have recently surfaced about the possibility of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt getting a final piece of DLC. If said rumor is correct, then this DLC would be developed by Fool’s Theory for release next year. For fans, this would be an interesting way to bridge the gap between the two games, and a great excuse to do one more playthrough of The Witcher 3 before its sequel is released.