After CD Projekt RED joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski told The Game Business that The Witcher Remake needed a “bit more time” due to “certain technology dependencies” with The Witcher 4, the studio confirmed that development on the former is essentially paused. This is because Fool’s Theory is not only working on The Witcher 3’s Songs of the Past expansion but also has a “small part” supporting the upcoming sequel.
“The Fool’s Theory team is focused mainly on the development of Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, while a relatively small part of their team is supporting the development of The Witcher 4,” it told GameSpot. “As we have previously announced, the development on The Witcher Remake has been temporarily integrated with The Witcher 4 due to production process dependencies. As The Witcher Remake will be built on the foundation laid by The Witcher 4, we need to have the necessary assets, tools, and pipelines ready for efficient development.”
Going back to 2022, joint CEO Adam Kiciński said The Witcher Remake would launch after The Witcher 4 (then known as Project Polaris). He noted that the former is “based in big part on technologies” from the sequel, and that once development on the latter is complete, it will be “partially reused in the remake.” That last part likely refers to the “assets, tools and pipelines” cited in CD Projekt RED’s latest statement.
It makes sense in the long run, especially since the company’s future projects are developed on Unreal Engine instead of REDengine. Building on everything The Witcher 4 has achieved would shorten the development cycle, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the development team takes the same approach for The Witcher 5 and 6.
Announced in 2022 alongside Polaris and Project Orion, aka Cyberpunk 2, among other projects, The Witcher Remake is an open-world title. While similar to more recent entries in the series, it’s a huge departure from the original game. Artur Ganszyniec, the lead story designer on the original, even felt that the narrative could change as a result.
How that will work remains to be seen, but Fool’s Theory has confirmed that parts of the original it considers “bad, outdated, or unnecessarily convoluted” will be excised. On the other hand, it will ensure that “the parts that are great, should be retained, or are direct key pillars” are highlighted.
