The Witcher 4 Skips The Game Awards
The Game Awards are coming up fast, which usually means a torrent of trailers, new reveals, awkward stage moments, and of course some actual awards squeezed in between. One of the big categories is Most Anticipated Game, and it is almost guaranteed that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be the headline winner when the night is over.
However, another huge name on that list is The Witcher 4 from CD Projekt Red. Many RPG fans were quietly hoping that The Game Awards would give us a fresh look at the next Witcher game, maybe even a surprise trailer or teaser during the show. That is not going to happen this year.
CD Projekt co CEO Michał Nowakowski recently posted on X to confirm that while the studio is proud to see The Witcher 4 nominated, it will not be bringing any new content or footage to The Game Awards. The team will be watching along with everyone else, but players should not expect a reveal or update during the event.
That may be disappointing if you were hoping for a big moment like Keanu Reeves appearing for Cyberpunk 2077 back in 2019, but it also fits the current state of the project. The Witcher 4 is deep into production, and the studio seems more focused on steady development than flashy marketing beats for now.
Where The Witcher 4 Stands In Development
CD Projekt recently shared a bit more detail about where the game is in its life cycle during its Q3 earnings call. The Witcher 4 which was previously known under the codename Project Polaris is in what the studio calls the full scale production phase. It has been at this stage since late 2024, which means the bulk of the team is now fully committed to building the game rather than just prototyping or pre production planning.
Even with that progress, players should not expect to get their hands on the next Witcher adventure any time soon. CD Projekt has confirmed that The Witcher 4 will definitely not launch in 2026. The earliest realistic release window is sometime in 2027 or later. There is still no official release target or date.
That timeline lines up with the studio’s history. The original Witcher launched in 2007, and in all the years since CD Projekt has released only two more mainline Witcher games plus Cyberpunk 2077. Their production cycles are long, intense, and filled with huge open worlds, complex quest systems, and high end visuals that require a lot of time and iteration.
The studio also carries the lessons from Cyberpunk 2077’s rough launch. In the past, CD Projekt was known for heavy crunch during development, with staff working long overtime hours to hit milestones. Leadership has said in recent years that it is trying to move away from that culture and avoid repeating the mistakes that hurt both developers and the final product. If the team is serious about healthier development, longer timelines and fewer public promises may actually be a good sign for the final quality of The Witcher 4.
A Faster Witcher Trilogy Powered By Unreal Engine 5
While there is no near term gameplay reveal, there was one interesting forward looking detail in CD Projekt’s comments. The Witcher 4 will not be a one off. It is planned as the first part of a brand new Witcher trilogy.
Back in 2022 the studio announced that Project Polaris would kick off three connected Witcher games. At the time, it set an ambitious goal: release the entire trilogy within six years of the launch of the first game. That sounded extremely optimistic considering how long previous games have taken.
In the latest earnings call, Michał Nowakowski said that plan is still on. He explained that CD Projekt wants the next two Witcher games to arrive in a relatively short time after The Witcher 4. The aim remains to launch the full trilogy within about six years from the first release, which would require much shorter gaps between The Witcher 4, 5, and 6 than players are used to.
The main reason the studio thinks this is possible is its shift to Unreal Engine 5. Previous CD Projekt games including The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 were built on the studio’s own in house technology. While powerful, that engine was complex and expensive to maintain, and every new game meant a lot of low level work just to keep things running.
By moving to Unreal Engine 5, CD Projekt hopes to standardize tools, benefit from Epic’s constant improvements, and reuse more systems between games. In theory this should speed up development once the first Unreal powered Witcher game is complete. The early stages are always the hardest as the team learns the engine, builds pipelines, and solves technical problems. After that, later games can build on the same foundation, allowing designers and writers to focus more on content rather than reinventing the tech for each release.
Of course, there is still reason to be cautious about the six year trilogy promise. The studio’s track record shows just how long big RPGs can take, and rushing to hit a public target could recreate the same pressures that caused issues for Cyberpunk 2077. The real test will come as deadlines get closer and the temptation grows to crunch or cut corners.
For now, Witcher fans should plan on a long wait for The Witcher 4 and no new trailers at The Game Awards this year. The upside is that when it does finally arrive, CD Projekt is betting that its move to Unreal Engine 5 will allow the next chapters in the saga to follow much more quickly, building a full trilogy that arrives in a fraction of the time it took to move from the first Witcher to The Witcher 3.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/sorry-folks-but-cd-projekt-says-its-not-going-to-surprise-us-with-any-breathtaking-witcher-4-moments-at-the-game-awards/
