Confusion about the new game by CD Projekt. The studio explains: This is NOT The Witcher 4

– with these words another game by CD Projekt RED in the Witcher universe was announced. The company announced that the title will be a single-player RPG. Although this announcement did not contain any suggestions that it was about The Witcher 4, some Western (but also Polish) media assumed that it must be a direct continuation of the Witcher trilogy.

However, this is not the only discrepancy related to the publication of CD Projekt. A lot of confusion was caused by the information that the new game will be created on the Unreal Engine 5. It is not just that CD Projekt resigns from its proprietary REDengine enginebut most of all about the fact that the owner of Unreal Engine 5 is Epic, with which the Poles have established official cooperation.

One of the key pillars of RED 2.0, the transformation the studio is currently undergoing, is a greater emphasis on technology, and this is what underlies our partnership with Epic Games. Our goal was not simply to obtain a license for the engine; Together with our partners, we see this cooperation as the first step in a long and fruitful cooperation

– says Paweł Zawodny, CTO of CD Projekt RED, quoted in the press release.

In recent years Epic has tried to use such partnerships to promote its digital game store, which is in direct competition with Steam. Some players and the media came to the conclusion that since CD Projekt and Epic have established cooperation, the latest The Witcher – or at least its PC version – will be available only in the Epic Games Store.

Media chaos around The Witcher. CD Projekt explains

Due to the above doubts, Radek Grabowski, global public relations director at CD Projekt Red, decided to take the floor. Grabowski published an entry in social media in which he referred to some media reports.

First, Grabowski explained that CD Projekt RED NOT announced The Witcher 4. “It was our initial confirmation of the new saga in the Witcher universe. At the moment we are not discussing any details about the history, characters, mechanics and plot details” – he noted.

Everything indicates that although the game will be set in the same world, it will not refer directly to the events of the trilogy, and its hero will not be Geralt of Rivia. Anyway, the Polish studio has repeatedly stated in the past that the story of Geralt has come to an end.

Second, Grabowski noted that no decision was made on the “exclusivity” of the game. Although there was no strong denial that the new Witcher was to be available exclusively in Epic Games Store, however, it is difficult to imagine such a scenario. It is worth remembering that CD Projekt has been developing its own digital store – GOG.com for years. Such an agreement with Epic could therefore be regarded as acting to the detriment of the company.

The witcher announced. CD Projekt’s shares are growing

Gieda reacted moderately to the announcement of CD Projekt. On Tuesday morning, the company’s shares even grew by almost 5 percentbut then there was a correction. At 11.00, these shares were valued at PLN 174. For comparison, in December 2020, i.e. just before the unsuccessful premiere of Cyberpunk 2077, over PLN 400 was paid for the company’s shares.