The Witcher 4 Will Be Similar to GTA 6—CD Projekt RED Is Spending a Lot on the Game’s Quality

Last week, especially during Gamescom 2026, CD Projekt RED focused a lot of attention on Songs of the Past—the upcoming DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. But at the same time, franchise fans want to learn more about the series' fourth installment, which is currently in active development. And by all accounts, we’re in for an extremely ambitious project, comparable to GTA 6.

Recently, Michał Nowakowski, Joint CEO of CD Projekt RED, spoke with The Game Business, where he revealed some details about The Witcher 4. Although he didn’t discuss the story or gameplay, his comments focused more on the technical aspects of the game. Specifically, Nowakowski stated that the studio is prioritizing quality and scale and has no intention of cutting corners on the fourth installment. He also cited GTA 6 as an example, noting the extent to which Rockstar Games is investing in the game—which may be a sign that The Witcher 4 will be just as detailed in many respects. You can check out Nowakowski’s more detailed comments on this below:

“We are cost-conscious. It’s not unimportant. We’re a business in the end. But the first thing is whether the quality is there, period. This is the dominant thing we look at.

I definitely wouldn’t put cost in the number one position, as weird as that may sound. We try to make sure we’re within the boundaries, or if it’s exceeding, then we sit down and think what it means for everything. But I definitely wouldn’t say this is a cost-driven development. If you want to have a cost-driven development, and that’s a proper business thinking for a lot of games, you cannot make a game like The Witcher 4. I doubt if the development of GTA VI was a cost-driven development. In fact, I’m 100% sure it wasn’t.”

As is well known, CD Projekt RED is using Unreal Engine 5 to develop The Witcher 4—a decision that, incidentally, not all fans are happy about. Nevertheless, Nowakowski assured us that the game won’t be just another cookie-cutter title built on the engine and will stand out, as you can check out below:

“That was a big question we were asking ourselves, because pushing the envelope with how the games look, the cinematic feel of it all, is very, very important. And that was a big question mark when we were in the R&D phase over whether Unreal Engine 5 is going to be a good fit or not. We really asked ourselves all of these questions, and in some cases the answer was, ‘not yet.’

But together with Epic, we can bring it to that point. I know when we made that switch, people were saying, ‘Oh, it’s going to be another Unreal-looking game.’ But we’re not going to be. We really are going to be able to differentiate ourselves. People are going to feel this is a CDPR game still, and the technology under the hood is actually going to be irrelevant from a pure fan perspective.”

The release date for The Witcher 4 remains unknown for now, but ahead of Gamescom, CD Projekt RED announced plans to release the game in 2028. As for the aforementioned DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Songs of the Past, it will be released next year on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2; according to the storyline, players travel to a new region—Letten, the homeland of Dandelion—and explore its dark secrets. Also, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is coming out this month —an enhanced version of the classic featuring graphical updates and improvements to the combat system. The release is scheduled for September 29, and owners of the original game will receive it for free.