CDPR Head Explains Why The Witcher 4 Developers Are Using Unreal Engine 5 Instead of REDengine
Now specialists can focus on creating new games.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077 were developed by CD Projekt RED using their proprietary REDengine. However, for The Witcher 4, the decision was made to switch to Unreal Engine 5.
Recently, one of CD Projekt RED's executives, Michal Nowakowski, participated in the Deconstructors of Fun podcast and explained the reason for the engine change. It's not due to limitations of the REDengine, but rather the developers' desire to focus specifically on creating games, rather than solving technical issues:
Our company's dream was never to create technology. Yes, we wanted to make visually and technically advanced games, but the main goal is to tell stories as convincingly and immersively as possible.
CD Projekt Red decided to abandon its own REDengine in favor of Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4 and future projects when it first saw its capabilities demonstrated in The Matrix demo:
And I think that was the moment, rather than the release of Cyberpunk 2077, that convinced us, shall we say, to abandon REDengine and fully switch to UE5 for future projects.
At that time, CD Projekt RED questioned whether Unreal Engine 5 was ready for the type of game they wanted to create:
The answer then was, "No, not at this stage, not in its basic form." However, if we establish cooperation with Epic Games and work on some things necessary to create games of this scale... it could definitely work.
Nowakowski noted that this collaboration allowed the developers to delve deeply into the Unreal Engine 5:
To be honest, I think we are the only team in the world outside of Epic that works with its "internals." No one else does this except us and Epic Games, and we do it as part of a joint effort.
Thanks to this partnership, Nowakowski explains, CD Projekt RED will be able to "tell more stories and simply release more games, because we won't be responsible for creating technology from scratch, but rather for creating small things for this technology that will ultimately play a huge role."
The release of The Witcher 4 is currently planned for 2028. A remaster of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is scheduled for release at the end of September this year, and a story expansion, Songs of the Past, is announced for 2027.
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