CD Projekt has explained why it has taken a “console-first” development approach for the hotly anticipated The Witcher 4, having gone with a PC-first approach for its previous games.
Earlier this month, CD Projekt revealed a stunning The Witcher 4 tech demo, built using Unreal Engine 5, that gave fans a clear sense of what to expect from the game.
The tech demo, captured on a PlayStation 5 and running at 60 frames per second, follows Ciri as she explores the never-before-seen region of Kovir in the midst of a monster contract.
There is an incredible amount of detail in the tech demo, with fluid animations on a level we have yet to see on the current generation of consoles. Ciri and her horse Kelpie have particularly impressive movement and interactions with each other, NPCs, and the game world as they make their way through the mountains of Kovir to the bustling port town of Valdrest. At one point in the demo, CD Projekt upped the NPC count in the market scene to 300 individually animated characters. The showcase ended with a first look at Lan Exeter, the winter capital and a major port city in Kovir.
Speaking to the tech experts at Digital Foundry following the demo reveal, CDPR’s VP of technology, Charles Tremblay, explained why the studio showed off The Witcher 4 tech demo running on PS5 first and before PC, saying it’s going for a “console-first” development approach for the game.
“We always do PC and we push and then we try to scale down,” he said. “But then we had so many problems in the past that we tried to say, this time around we really want to be more console-first development.”
That mention of having problems in the past is a nod to the disastrous launch of 2020’s Cyberpunk 2077, which ran so poorly on consoles on release that Sony ended up pulling it from the PlayStation Store and offered refunds. Amid the furore, CD Projekt apologized to customers for not showing the game on base last-gen consoles ahead of launch, admitting “we should have paid more attention to making it play better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.”
CD Projekt spent years recovering from the game’s technical issues, but has done so successfully, to the point now where Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive hit and was even successfully released on the Nintendo Switch 2 as a launch title.
Now, with The Witcher 4 in development but not due out until 2027 at the earliest, CD Projekt is clearly keen to avoid making the same mistake. Later in the same interview, Jakub Knapik, VP, Global Art Director, CDPR, talked in vague terms about the benefits of going with console first then “scaling up” to platforms such as PC.
“We wanted to solve certain foundations,” he said. “It’s pretty logical when you think about it, because it’s easier to scale up than down.
“We knew that once we set up certain foundations both visually and technically, there’s room to scale up. Now what that means is another question. We’re CDPR, we always like to push PCs to the limit. It’s just a creative process how to really use it.”
Tremblay then stepped in to insist PC gamers will get their money’s worth from The Witcher 4 when it eventually comes out, despite the “console-first” approach.
“In the past, something that’s super important for the group is that if people pay good money for their hardware, then we want them to have what the game can provide for that, not like a simplified experience,” he said.
“So this is something we will definitely explore. The company started as a PC company, and we’ll definitely want to have the best experience for the PC gamer for sure. But it’s too early to say what this will mean for The Witcher 4.”
It’s worth remembering that by releasing The Witcher 4 on Xbox Series X, it must also release it on the less powerful Xbox Series S. All the talk so far has been about how CD Projekt has committed to 60 frames per second for The Witcher 4 across console, but in the DF interview Tremblay admitted that scaling down to Series S while maintaining 60fps will be “extremely challenging.”
“I wish we did a lot of work already on that but we did not,” he said. “So this is something that is next on our radar for sure. I will say that 60fps will definitely be extremely challenging on the Xbox Series S. Let’s just say this is something we need to figure out.”
There is still a long way to go for The Witcher 4, and as IGN has reported, the tech demo is not representative of The Witcher 4 gameplay. But it does show CD Projekt’s “ambition” for the title.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.