Credit: CD Projekt Red
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The Witcher 4 Targets 2028 Release as CD Projekt Red Gives Development Update
August 25, 2026·3 min read
CD Projekt Red is targeting a 2028 release window for The Witcher 4, giving players the clearest indication yet of when Ciri's next adventure could arrive. Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski shared the timing in an update ahead of Gamescom 2026, while making clear that the studio is not ready to announce an exact release date.
The 2028 window is a development target rather than a locked launch date. CD Projekt Red has not announced a specific quarter or month, but the update narrows the timeline considerably after the company previously avoided committing to a release year.
Nowakowski addressed the release question directly in his August 24 update, confirming that CD Projekt Red is working toward 2028.
That still gives the studio flexibility if development takes longer than planned. No preorder timing or exact launch date has been announced, so 2028 should be treated as the current target rather than a guaranteed release year.
The update is the first time CD Projekt Red has attached such a specific window to the next mainline Witcher game. Earlier guidance only established that The Witcher 4 would not launch in 2026.
Nowakowski said more than 500 developers are currently working on The Witcher 4. Ciri will lead the new saga as a professional monster slayer, taking over the central role after Geralt's story in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
CD Projekt Red describes the game as a single-player open-world RPG powered by Unreal Engine 5. The studio says it is building a large open world alongside action-focused combat and a story centered on Ciri.
The technology behind the project was shown publicly in 2025 through an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo created with Epic Games. CD Projekt Red stressed at the time that the demonstration was not gameplay from the finished game, but a look at the technology and systems being developed for it.
Players will get another major Witcher release before The Witcher 4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past is scheduled for 2027 and brings Geralt back for a new expansion co-developed by CD Projekt Red and Fool's Theory.
CD Projekt Red is focusing its Gamescom 2026 Witcher presentation on Songs of the Past. Nowakowski confirmed that The Witcher 4 itself will not be shown at the event.
For the two projects discussed in the update, Geralt returns in Songs of the Past in 2027, while CD Projekt Red is targeting 2028 for the beginning of Ciri's new saga in The Witcher 4.
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22h ago
The Witcher IV is a single-player, open-world RPG from CD PROJEKT RED. At the start of a new saga, players take on the role of Ciri, a professional monster slayer, and embark on a journey through a brutal dark-fantasy world.
Released
December 31, 2028
Developer
CD Projekt RED
Publisher
CD Projekt RED
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