The team behind The Witcher 4 have confirmed that the game isn’t coming out anytime soon.
READ MORE: How The Flight crafted ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ stunning, super-sized soundtrack
The Witcher 4 was officially confirmed at the end of last year with an ambitious cinematic trailer after the game was first being teased back in 2022.
The six-minute video revealed a grown-up Ciri would be the protagonist for The Witcher 4 with the game “marking the beginning of a new saga” following the events of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Developers went on to confirm fan-favourite minigame Gwent will be making a return in the new game, while the voice actor of previous protagonist Geralt said he was “really excited” about the new direction of The Witcher 4.
Now in an earnings call with investors, developers CD Projekt confirmed the game won’t be for a long while. Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz said: “We are not going to announce the precise launch date for the game yet. All we could share now to give more visibility to investors is that the game will not be launched within the time frame of the first target for the incentive program, which ends December 31, 2026.”
This means the earliest The Witcher 4 will be released is 2027. Earlier this month it was reported Xbox are looking to launch their next gen console the same year, with rumours PlayStation will be following a similar schedule.
Elsewhere in the earnings call, CEO Michał Nowakowski confirmed that they wouldn’t be using generative AI to create The Witcher 4 due to “tricky” legal situations that could occur. “When it comes to implementation of any gen AI in the actual games, we really have nothing happening when it comes to Witcher 4 or any projects in the near future,” he added.
It comes after the studio previously said generative AI could help with “certain processes” in game development.
In other news, the official X account of Assassin’s Creed has hit back at Elon Musk after he criticised new game Shadows, and fans are loving the drama.
The post Don’t expect ‘The Witcher 4’ to be released anytime soon appeared first on NME.