CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michal Nowakowski confirmed that The Witcher 4 already runs on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, two years before its planned 2028 release. The unusual pre-optimization push is designed to prevent a repeat of the technical issues that plagued the 2020 launch of Cyberpunk 2077.
As full development continues on CD Projekt Red’s next major role-playing game, studio leadership has adopted a drastically different technical pipeline than the one used for its previous open-world release. Rather than building primarily for high-end personal computers and attempting to scale down performance later, developers have established baseline compatibility across all intended hardware platforms from the earliest stages.
Why CD Projekt Red Changed Its Development Strategy
The shift directly addresses the troubled rollout of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2020. That title suffered from severe optimization failures on older console hardware, leading Sony to pull the game from the PlayStation Store for six months while patches were applied. According to studio leadership, those problems stemmed from an internal assumption that performance optimization could be safely left until the final phases of production.
Reflecting on that period, Nowakowski explained that the team operated under a flawed premise regarding hardware scaling. The studio pursued the highest possible visual fidelity on PC, relying on what turned out to be a false belief that toning down the experience for consoles would present minimal technical hurdles.
“The way the studio was thinking was that we are reaching for the best possible visuals. We want to push the boundaries of what is doable in terms of cinematic feeling and whatnot, and PC was just the best suited rig for that.”
Michal Nowakowski, co-CEO, CD Projekt Red
Although the studio managed similar hardware transitions during the creation of The Witcher 3 by relying on a degree of good fortune, that luck did not hold for Night City. Leadership concluded that leaving optimization to the end of a multi-platform schedule creates cascading engineering debt that becomes nearly impossible to clear.
Current Technical State of The Witcher 4
To ensure history does not repeat itself, the studio has altered how internal milestones are tracked. In previous cycles, missing a small number of technical checkmarks during early milestones was treated as an acceptable debt to be cleared later. Today, if a build fails on any single target platform, work halts until the specific problem is resolved.
That strict internal discipline means the game is functioning across all target hardware well ahead of its public debut. As Nowakowski told Game Developer during a recent interview, anyone visiting the studio can verify the current build firsthand.
“You come to the studio, you launch Witcher 4 right now. You can launch it on PC. You can launch it on PS5. You can launch it on Xbox Series X, and it’s going to run.”
Michal Nowakowski, co-CEO, CD Projekt Red
That multi-platform readiness represents a stark departure from the studio’s historical methods. By ensuring that PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S environments receive equal technical attention two years ahead of launch, the developer aims to eliminate day-one performance disparities.
Broader Studio Timeline and Parallel Projects
While the majority of CD Projekt Red’s resources are channeled into the new franchise entry, the studio is managing multiple initiatives simultaneously. Alongside work on the next Witcher installment, the developer partnered with the Hungarian external studio Geeksoft—an outfit rooted in the modding community—to handle technical engine work for upcoming additions to the third game, including a new expansion titled Songs of the Past.
The company has also kept details regarding its mysterious new intellectual property, Project Hadar, tightly under wraps. Leadership indicated that further information regarding that unannounced universe will emerge over the next five years.
For now, the overarching priority remains steering its flagship fantasy series toward its 2028 release window without the friction that accompanied its last major launch. By confronting platform limitations early, CD Projekt Red is betting that methodical pipeline discipline will protect its next major gamble from the hardware pitfalls of the past.
