CD Projekt on switching to Unreal Engine 5: “It’s a perfect match for us to use this technology”

CD Projekt has shared some details about its content plans and business operations in the latest earnings call with investors. The company opened up about switching to Unreal Engine 5, the new Witcher saga, and the future of Cyberpunk 2077.

Upcoming games

• Right now, CD Projekt is focused on development of the next game in The Witcher series and the upcoming DLC for Cyberpunk 2077.
• Speaking of The Witcher franchise, the new game is in the pre-production stage. However, the company is committed to making several titles in a new saga.
• “We’ve said there would be a new saga, but of course now we’re preproducing the first game – but we have more than one game in mind.”
• When CD Projekt said it has been parallelly developing two AAA games, it meant the next Witcher title and the major expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 titled Phantom Liberty. So the studio has no other unannounced AAA project in production right now.
• The company confirmed that there will be only one major DLC for Cyberpunk 2077. However, CDPR is “totally committed to developing the Cyberpunk IP further” and creating “new stories, new experiences, new content — not just in the videogame format.”
• On top of that, CD Projekt has also a new game in the works from The Molasses Flood, a studio it acquired last year for an undisclosed sum.

Unreal Engine 5 and updated business strategy

• CD Projekt also elaborated on its ongoing shift from its proprietary technology REDengine to Unreal Engine 5. The company said it is a “perfect match for us to use this technology.”
• “Unreal is known for great developer tools, so we believe that some processes and pipelines should become more efficient once we fully roll out the technology,” CD Projekt president Adam Kiciński noted. “We’re now running workshops and still learning, but there are also many more developers familiar with this technology — so the pool of potential hires is definitely bigger than before.”
• The company said it was switching to Unreal Engine 5 in March, when it announced the development of a new Witcher game.
• So Cyberpunk 2077 and its upcoming expansion will be the last CD Projekt games built with the REDengine.
• CD Projekt will also provide an update on its strategy in October. It will reveal some future plans and details about how it wants to run its business.