CD Projekt Red tests The Witcher 4 on PC and consoles

Ensuring technical stability across all platforms from the start of production is a prudent approach that prevents launch setbacks, showing how past mistakes still toll heavily on the company's internal operations. CD Projekt Red has announced that The Witcher 4 is currently running effectively on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, highlighting a significant transformation in the Polish studio's development methods.

In an interview with Game Developer and shared by Eurogamer during Gamescom, co-CEO Michał Nowakowski explained that every employee at the studio can seamlessly run the project on all three systems.

"You arrive at the studio, and start Witcher 4 right away. You can launch it on PC. You can launch it on PS5. You can launch it on an Xbox Series X, and the game will run," the executive emphasized.

This open communication aims to clearly distance itself from the troubled release of Cyberpunk 2077, preventing a recurrence of failures in the next major offering.

Back then, CD Projekt Red's strategy prioritized development for PC first, aiming to achieve the platform's graphical limits before scaling down for previous generation consoles.

Nowakowski himself acknowledged that this approach proved to be a major error; the prior experience with the port of The Witcher 3 benefited from luck not repeated during the 2020 release. Launching on PS4 and Xbox One led to performance issues, causing Sony to temporarily remove the game from the PlayStation Store.

The recovery of the action RPG in the eyes of the public required years of effort, frequent updates, dedicated versions for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, as well as player endorsements.

To avoid further backlash from the community, the studio abandoned its old model. "We're not taking any chances anymore," said the co-CEO regarding mandatory ongoing testing. "We want to ensure it works."

This shift reveals a truth in the industry: commercial success depends on balancing top-notch visuals on computers and smooth operation on consoles, which have hardware constraints compared to the latest graphics cards.

The quality control process now employs stringent checks on technical targets.

If a problem is detected on PS5, Xbox Series X, or PC, development progress in that area is halted until the issue is fully resolved.

This approach prevents optimization tasks from piling up toward the end of production, ensuring a more stable code throughout the creation phases.

Set to debut in 2028 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, the game still faces a lengthy production journey at the studio's facilities.

Learning from past mishaps and prioritizing real-time optimization on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC are crucial steps in regaining consumer trust in CD Projekt Red. However, turning the basic obligation of delivering a functional game into a company ethos reminds the public that the studio adopted this stance only after suffering a massive reputational hit with Cyberpunk 2077.