The Witcher Developer Explains Why New Game Isn't 'The Witcher 4'

CD Projekt has clarified that the recently announced Witcher RPG currently in development is not The Witcher 4.

This is annoying for two reasons. The first is that I kind of wanted to know what happened to Geralt after the events of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The second, more practical reason, is that The Witcher 4 fits into article headlines much better than "New Witcher" or "The Next Witcher". I guess we just have to play the hand we're dealt.

For now, we'll have to avoid calling it The Witcher 4. Especially since CD Projekt RED's global PR director Radek Grabowski took to Twitter after the evening's thrilling Witcher news to make it clear that they had not announced a game by that name. And you can't really argue with the company's global PR director, can you?

"What we have NOT announced today: A game called The Witcher 4. A game exclusive to one storefront," Grabowski wrote. "It was our initial confirmation of a new saga in The Witcher franchise. Right now, we are not discussing any specifics in terms or story, characters, mechanics, or plot details."

What this actually means for the in-development game remains unclear and is entirely down to speculation, mostly for the reasons Grabowski just laid out. Everything to do with the upcoming Witcher game remains tightly under wraps for the time being, but describing it as a "new saga" and insisting it's not The Witcher 4 very much implies to me this will be a clean break for the series. Tragically, that probably also means we've seen the last of Geralt as a protagonist, but if that means the way is clear for Ciri to take a starring role? No arguments from me.

What we do know right now is that CDPR is moving from its previous REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 as part of a "multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games". However, as Grabowski states above, this does not mean the game will be exclusive to the Epic Store.

We'll update you as soon as we learn more about the next Witcher game. Probably two years from now.