The highly anticipated The Witcher 4 faces immense expectations, following the monumental success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The previous installment garnered widespread critical acclaim and sold over 60 million units globally. In a recent interview, Narrative Director Philipp Weber of CD Projekt Red was questioned on how the studio plans to possibly surpass the acclaimed third game. Weber candidly responded, “Yeah, how are we going to do that?”
Speaking to GamesRadar, Weber further elaborated that video games, much like any creative endeavor, are inherently “subjective.” Consequently, the team is not striving to simply “outdo” The Witcher 3. Instead, their primary objective is to honor its rich legacy by embracing and continuing the fundamental creative philosophy and “vibe” that defined its development. He emphasized the studio`s intention to “take the philosophy we had during The Witcher 3—how to make a game, how to really care about these things, how to tell stories—and keep that philosophy.”
As a designated “true sequel,” The Witcher 4 is also set to delve into uncharted narrative territory by addressing “new questions.” According to Weber, a failure to innovate would risk the game merely “redoing what we did before.”
He summarized their development approach as achieving “a healthy mix of really moving forward and also trying out some new things, but doing justice to what was there, not trying to beat it.”
Reflecting on past experiences, Weber recalled that during the development of The Witcher 3, the studio thrived amidst a period he described as “good creative chaos.” This environment fostered a flexible, “vibe-based” working style, where developers frequently tackled tasks beyond their strict job descriptions to achieve the desired outcomes.
Weber humorously recounted, “Sometimes I like to just say, `Get it done. Do it dirty. Do it the way we used to do it!`”
While The Witcher 4 currently does not have a confirmed release date, it is not expected to launch before 2027 at the earliest. This title is just one of several projects currently in development at CD Projekt. Other upcoming games include Cyberpunk 2, a remake of the original Witcher game, and a new title being produced in partnership with Saudi Arabia.
The decision to center The Witcher 4`s story on Ciri has generated considerable debate and controversy within the community, with some critics labeling the game as “woke.” However, Geralt`s voice actor has publicly condemned such criticisms. Additionally, an impressive new tech demo for the game was unveiled earlier this year; despite its visual impact, developers promptly clarified that it did not represent the final game experience.
