One of The Game Awards 2024's biggest moments was a lengthy cinematic trailer for The Witcher 4, which is set to star a recast Ciri in the lead role.
The trailer, which CD Projekt Red says is "using assets and models from the game itself" and running on an "unannounced Nvidia GeForce RTX" graphics card, is very visually impressive, which begs the question: which consoles will run this game?
Well, the developer mostly dodges the question in an interview with Eurogamer. When asked whether the game will run on current-gen hardware — bearing in mind the mysterious graphics card running what we see in the trailer — game director Sebastian Kalemba is cagey.
"You know, first of all, this is good to say: this is not a kind of 'beginning of marketing' campaign," Kalemba says. "We firstly wanted to showcase and share with the entire world that Ciri is the main protagonist; it's The Witcher 4; and she's mutated; and she's on The Path, definitely, right?"
He continues, saying the team is working on new technology — "Unreal Engine 5 and our custom build" — but doesn't get into details regarding what machines can run it. "And obviously we want to support all the platforms - meaning PC, Xbox and Sony, right? - but I cannot, right now, tell you more specifics regarding that."
It may simply be too early in the development to say with confidence which platforms the game will hit, but given that Cyberpunk 2077's expansion, Phantom Liberty, skipped PS4, we're fairly certain eighth generation consoles are out of the picture.
PS5 is a dead cert, unless The Witcher 4 is so technically advanced that it's heading for next-gen consoles like PS6 instead.
Whatever the case, the game will most assuredly be a stunner when it finally launches.
Are you excited for The Witcher 4? Tell us in the comments section below.
[source eurogamer.net, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 30
As long as its not another Cyberpunk on PS4.
Poised to be a console and system seller because it certainly won't work on a bunch of consoles and graphics cards that people currently have, but it certainly is a pretty big franchise.
GTA and The Witcher, the games that will continue to move us into the future 🍻
I can understand the need for profitability but they need to avoid a repeat of Cyberpunk's release. If the game is not coming out by about 2028 then it really should be a next gen only game unless UE5 scales down really well.
@AdamNovice It should damn well run on PS5 Pro, otherwise why even bother. It's doubtful there will be that many PS6's in the wild at that point which would hold back how many units of the game will sell.
By 2028 the economy will be FAR worse than it is now, so I doubt any of the next-gen consoles will sell more than 50 million units after all is said and done.
@DennisReynolds it will be. I don’t have a lot of faith in CDPR.
Bruh unless they say pc only this ***** needs to work on ps5 and series x maybe switch 2
With the current CPU's, I think they will be waiting for the PS6 and the next Xbox. If they want a repeat of Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 then they can try and put W4 on PS5 and see what happens.
They had the ... guts to release cyberpunk on ps4. You aren't fooling anyone CDPR.
If its next gen I hope they only focus on next gen.
I bought TW3 again a couple of weeks ago, played for 12 hours but I just can’t get in to it, it’s not for me. I find everything so bleurgh… yes the dialogue and quests are cool but everything is so miserable, the controls suck, the combat is a chore, the music is repetitive and depressing.
Got my eye on the 4th game, hopefully it’s more for me.
Worrying thing is that if it is a next-gen game, which it likely is, then we're looking at 2028 earliest.
But they'll need a solid user base to make any money which could mean 2029 or later.
Perhaps it'll be cross-gen which means before 2028 but that doesn't sound as exciting from a technical standpoint
Lesson learned.
Can’t wait to try it on the Switch.
Given that this is likely 2-3 years away at the minimum, there is absolutely NO reason this should be on PS4. I'm sorry, but this is sticking point for me. By 2027 the PS4 should be killed off and the PS5 finally fully embraced (several years later than it should have) and we should probably even have a rough idea of when the PS6 might be releasing.
Cross-developing this for both systems will just make it harder for the PS5 version to be at its fullest potential. It's way, way too late to be doing this. The PS4 is already 11 years old. Kill it already.
Edit: forgot the Switch... yeah I don't even want to think about that lol
Yep, definitely another Cyberpunk 2077 on the way!
Unless we are looking at 2028/9 on PS6, and even then I have very little faith in this developer.
I hope it releases on the PS5 just so I can get a second trophy list when it inevitably goes to the PS6. I want to double dip on my Witcher platinums with new playthroughs 😎😎
@darylb24 the series S/X and PS5 CPUs are actually pretty great, and were top class for their time, unlike the PS4/XBO which were considered slogs when they were brand new.
Don't do a 2077 PS4 performance issue again that Jaguar CPU for PS4 wasn't that great to even begin with
Next year, for sure👌
If not, the only question is who goes first -
🏍️💨🚓
🗡️👵💰
They'd never abandon 100+ million consoles. Especially as a 3rd party. Sony will have an Eclusive next gen (Rift Apart, Demon Souls, Returnal) around launch but only from Sony and Nintendo. i can't see a 3rd party dev making a "next" gen exclusive early into the cycle. Now PC only sure but no way TW4 is ps6 and next box exclusive
@Nyne11Tyme Agreed. Logically it is going to be on PS5 and XSX and therefore XSS. Even if it releases in 4-5 years that will likely be in the first year or two of a new generation, there won't be enough next-gen consoles sold, it will need to be cross-gen.
If it launches later than that, say in 2030+ then it could perhaps be PS6/Xnext only but still it's a lot of console users to say bye to.
They never learn. Just like Cyberpunk, they assumed everybody had $5000 unannounced rigs in their homes. When devs like Guerilla, ND, Rockstar develop first and foremost with whatever gen is current in mind.
@kyleforrester87 I did the same exact thing 2 years ago! I played the tutorial, a bit of the starting area, then just uninstalled bc I was so very unimpressed.
About a month later the next gen upgrade for ps5 came out so I gave it one more shot. It finally ‘clicked’ and I was absolutely enthralled 🥰 I must have about 150 hours logged
Now if only I could get into cp2077! I’ve tried many times, as recently as a few months ago, but I guess it’s just not for me
@WiiWareWave Pro yes but it needs to support PS5 and Xbox series S/X if they want to stick to this gen.
Witcher 4 on ps4 confirmed!
This game will be a thing of beauty when it launches, but I can’t say I’m happy about them going with UE5. UE in general is still struggling with shader caching, pop-in and random freezes/ screen-tearing.
Well, if it plays like tw3 I'm sure it can run on a Nintendo switch, lol🤭🤭🤣🤣
@WiiWareWave Yeah, I'm betting the economy is better off than someone can raise a billion but still wind up in debt
@tselliot FYI your post makes no sense. I have no clue what you're trying to say...🤔
I'm guessing its an end of cycle game or launch PS6 game.
Its 2025 in a few days so likely only out in 2027-8 which is next gen territory
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