CD Projekt Red is transitioning from its proprietary REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 for the development of The Witcher 4, a move that has led to speculation that the technical difficulties experienced during Cyberpunk 2077's launch played a role. However, the studio's co-CEO Michał Nowakowski has formally dismissed this suggestion, asserting that the decision is rooted in the company's long-standing ambitions rather than the specific issues encountered with Cyberpunk 2077.
Speaking on the Deconstructor of Fun podcast, Nowakowski clarified that the challenges with Cyberpunk 2077 were not fundamentally tied to the REDengine itself. He explained that CD Projekt's core aspiration has always been to create compelling and immersive narratives, stating, "The dream of the company was actually never to make technology." While the studio aimed to produce visually and technically cutting-edge games, which initially favored in-house engine development, the focus has always been on storytelling.
Nowakowski revealed that the studio's decision to adopt Unreal Engine 5 was influenced by observing its capabilities, particularly after witnessing demos like The Matrix Awakens. This led CD Projekt to pursue a "strategic collaboration" with Epic Games, aiming not just to license the engine but to actively contribute to its development. "We're actually, I think, the only team in the world outside of Epic that deals with the inside of the 'black box' that the engine is," Nowakowski noted, highlighting the unique partnership.
The shift to Unreal Engine 5 signals a desire to leverage external technology to achieve their creative goals, allowing the company to concentrate its resources on game design and narrative development. The future impact of CD Projekt's collaboration with Epic on Unreal Engine's ongoing development, and potentially on future iterations like Unreal Engine 6, remains to be seen, especially given the studio's stated position against relying heavily on AI for game creation.