The Witcher 4 release year has fans torn

The Witcher 4 fans are torn over when the highly anticipated fantasy RPG will be released.

Yesterday, we were treated to the first The Wither 4 gameplay presented on stage for an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo, and to say that it looked incredible would be an understatement.

Ciri looked amazing, the detail on her horse, Kelpie, was next-level, and just how vibrant its massive open-world looked with its NPCs, wildlife, and the Valdrest village looked truly next-gen.

However, while it’s most likely that The Witcher 4 will be a next-gen title, especially as its release is expected to be a couple of years away, at least, the demo shown this week was being played on a standard PlayStation 5.

With that in mind, fans of The Witcher series on Reddit have been discussing when they think the CD Projekt RED RPG will be released.

“The Witcher 4 is closer to release than initially anticipated,” claimed TeethInMouth. “I know there were some whispers that the game wouldn't launch until the next-gen, but it looks like CDPR is specifically targeting this generation.”

“Not only that, based on the recent demo, CDPR is VERY far along with its development, more so than I could have expected. I was initially thinking the game might release late 2027, but now I'm thinking early 2026. I'm excited for it, CDPR really cooked. What do you all think?”

“Early 2026 is copium, and if it isn't, the game will 100% be served rare,” replied DontSlurp, suggesting that there’s little chance that The Witcher 4 will be released so early.

“Cyberpunk 2077 also had a playable demo two years before the initial release,” said BobcatFit7148, alluding to its infamous launch woes.

“It was a much larger demo than the one we got this week. Two years later, CDPR released a game in a somewhat unfinished state, and it took them years to improve. So we're still probably two or three years away from the release of The Witcher 4.”

“They already said it won't launch in 2026. Even though there was a demo, they still have a lot to do,” explained Darak.

“It’s too early to arrive next year. This may take two to three years so that they don't clash with GTA VI next year,” replied Abrakresnik, making a very good point regarding the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series.

Let’s just hope that when The Witcher 4 does grace us with its presence, it won't repeat the same mistakes of the now fantastic Cyberpunk 2077.