CD Projekt Red Says Unreal Engine 5 Lets The Witcher 4 Team Focus More on Game Development

CD Projekt Red says its move from the proprietary REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4 is intended to reduce the amount of time developers spend solving underlying technology problems.

The studio used REDengine for major games including The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, but The Witcher 4 is being built with Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5.

According to co CEO Michał Nowakowski, the decision reflects a broader change in how the company wants to use its development resources. Instead of building major engine technology from scratch for every project, the studio wants to concentrate more directly on game design, storytelling, and content production.

CD Projekt Red did not consider Unreal Engine 5 ready at first

The studio began paying closer attention to Unreal Engine 5 around the time Epic released The Matrix Awakens technology demonstration.

That showcase prompted internal discussions about whether Unreal Engine 5 was ready to support games with the scale and complexity CD Projekt Red typically builds.

At that stage, the answer was reportedly no.

However, the studio believed Unreal Engine 5 could become suitable if it worked directly with Epic on the features and production systems needed for large open world games.

That collaboration eventually gave CD Projekt Red enough confidence to move forward with the engine.

Development area	CD Projekt Red approach
Previous engine	REDengine
The Witcher 4 engine	Unreal Engine 5
Main reason for switch	Reduce time spent building core technology
Epic collaboration	Direct work on tools and features
Target benefit	Faster and more focused game production
Other major projects	Multiple projects in development
Cyberpunk sequel	Orion has moved into pre production

Nowakowski explained that the studio's goal was never simply to create technology for its own sake. The technology exists to support the stories and worlds the team wants to build.

That does not mean CD Projekt Red will stop working on engine technology entirely.

Instead, developers can focus on specific additions and modifications that improve Unreal Engine 5 for the studio's type of game rather than maintaining an entire proprietary engine.

Unreal Engine 5 is being adapted for large CD Projekt games

The Witcher 4 engineering production manager Jan Hermanowicz has also discussed the benefits of tailoring Unreal Engine 5 around the studio's development process.

The more closely the pipelines and tools match CD Projekt Red's requirements, the easier it becomes for teams to build future games.

This is especially important because the company now has several projects moving forward at the same time.

A shared technology base could reduce duplicated engineering work between projects and make it easier for improvements created for one game to benefit another.

The studio has already confirmed that Orion, the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, has moved into pre production.

That wider project slate makes engine standardization more important than it was when CD Projekt Red was concentrating on fewer major releases.

The studio still needs custom technology

Moving to Unreal Engine 5 does not remove the need for engineering work.

Large open world RPGs place unusual demands on streaming, animation, world simulation, rendering, quest systems, and development tools.

CD Projekt Red is therefore still developing custom solutions where required.

The difference is that those efforts can be built on top of an established engine rather than requiring the company to maintain every part of the underlying technology itself.

This approach can also allow the studio to benefit from improvements Epic makes to Unreal Engine 5 over time.

At the same time, the partnership gives Epic access to feedback from a developer working on very large open world projects.

The Witcher 4 still has no release date

The Witcher 4 is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and Series S.

No release date has been announced.

The project represents one of the biggest technical shifts in CD Projekt Red's recent history because it moves the studio away from the engine technology that powered its previous flagship games.

The company now appears to be betting that a customized Unreal Engine 5 workflow will let its teams spend less time maintaining foundational technology and more time building the games themselves.