The Witcher 4 Is Targeting a 2028 Release Window, CD Projekt Red Confirms

CD Projekt Red has finally put a target year on The Witcher 4. In an update shared ahead of Gamescom 2026, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said the studio is “targeting a 2028 release window” for its next mainline Witcher RPG.

That wording matters. CD Projekt Red has not announced an exact release date, and 2028 is a target rather than a locked launch. Still, it is the clearest timing guidance the studio has given for the game so far.

The update also makes one thing clear: this is already a massive production. Nowakowski said more than 500 developers are working on The Witcher 4 as CD Projekt Red builds what it hopes will be its most ambitious Witcher game yet.

Ciri Is at the Center of the New Witcher Saga

The Witcher 4 begins a new saga with Ciri as its protagonist, a shift CD Projekt Red formally revealed alongside the game’s cinematic trailer at The Game Awards 2024.

The studio describes the project as a single-player, open-world RPG in which players take on the role of Ciri as a professional monster slayer. It is being developed with Unreal Engine 5, replacing the proprietary REDengine technology used for earlier CD Projekt Red games.

That transition has already produced one of the most substantial public looks at the technology behind the project. At State of Unreal 2025, CD Projekt Red and Epic Games presented a Witcher 4 tech demo set in Kovir, following Ciri and her horse Kelpie through the region and into the port town of Valdrest.

CD Projekt Red was careful about what that presentation represented. It was a technology demonstration, not finished Witcher 4 gameplay, designed to showcase the Unreal Engine 5 tools being developed for the game’s open world.

The Witcher 4 Won’t Be at Gamescom 2026

Anyone hoping the 2028 announcement means a new Witcher 4 trailer is about to drop at Gamescom should temper expectations. CD Projekt Red says The Witcher 4 itself will not be shown at the event.

Instead, the company’s current Witcher spotlight is on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Songs of the Past, the newly announced third expansion for the 2015 RPG.

Songs of the Past is being co-developed by CD Projekt Red and Fool’s Theory and is scheduled for 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. It puts players back in control of Geralt of Rivia for a new adventure, with CD Projekt Red using Gamescom to reveal more about the expansion.

That creates an unusually busy stretch for the franchise if the current schedule holds: a new Witcher 3 expansion in 2027 followed by the targeted arrival of The Witcher 4 in 2028.

The 2028 Window Is a Target, Not a Promise

The most important takeaway is also the simplest: The Witcher 4 is currently targeting 2028, but it does not have a fixed release date.

CD Projekt Red has previously said that The Witcher 4 will launch a new trilogy and that it intends to deliver the full trilogy within a six-year period beginning with the first game’s release. That remains an ambitious long-term plan rather than a calendar of guaranteed dates.

For now, 2028 gives fans the first meaningful year to circle — lightly — on the calendar. With more than 500 developers working on the project, Ciri leading the new saga and CD Projekt Red continuing its Unreal Engine 5 partnership with Epic, The Witcher 4 is taking shape. It just isn’t coming soon.