Earlier this year, during Epic's State of Unreal presentation, we were treated to a stunning The Witcher IV tech demo that served as a preview of the level of graphics fidelity CD Projekt RED aims for with the final game. Such a great demo excited the franchise's millions of fans in anticipation of the day they'll get to play it.
There's still a long way before the game's launch, though. While development has been going at full speed (and with more developers than ever, 444 at the last count), CD Projekt RED has confirmed that The Witcher IV won't release before 2027. In the meantime, fans are starving for tidbits, and one such thing was provided this week via X by Narrative Director (previously Quest Designer on The Witcher III: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077) Philipp Weber. After sharing a picture of Crossroads of Ravens, the latest book written by saga creator Andrzej Sapkowski (out on September 30 in English), a fellow user asked whether any of the book's points would be taken from this new book into The Witcher IV. This was Weber's response:
I can't reveal how exactly we'll do it, but Season of Storms also came out while we developed The Witcher 3, so we still tried to include some of the new elements. You can expect something similar!
Granted, Crossroads of Ravens is a prequel book. So was Season of Storms, but Crossroads of Ravens is the earliest book in the timeline as far as Geralt's character is concerned. As such, it's hard to imagine CD Projekt RED incorporating more than just a few general ideas into The Witcher IV, which takes place much later in the storyline.
The good news is that CD Projekt RED has long since 'solidified' its relationship with Sapkowski himself. As you may recall, Sapkowski, a self-progressed non-gamer, initially licensed the game rights for a relative pittance. After witnessing the enormous success of the third installment, though, the author eventually demanded $16 million from the Polish studio, alleging that those rights were only valid for the first game.
A little over a year later, the two parties reached a new agreement, which included a 'framework for future cooperation'. As such, it is possible CD Projekt RED may have already picked Sapkowski's mind to ensure their vision for The Witcher IV is in line with the author's.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
