CD Projekt Red has emphasised that footage of The Witcher 4 showcased at State of Unreal 2025 was not gameplay.
“To show this early look at the work we’ve been doing using Unreal Engine 5 running at 60 FPS on PS5 is a significant milestone.
I look forward to seeing more advancements and inspiring technology from this partnership as development of The Witcher 4 on Unreal Engine 5 continues.”
Epic launched Unreal Engine 5.6 during its State of Unreal event yesterday.
This tech was demonstrated during the tech demo for The Witcher 4, which supported devs in “capturing natural objects in high fidelity”.
According to CD Projekt Red, the Witcher 4 footage that was shown at State of Unreal 2025 was not gameplay.
“First look at the cutting edge technology powering The Witcher 4 – but not The Witcher 4 itself,” the developer claimed, according to VGC.
According to a CDPR representative, “it showcases the core systems and features we’re developing using Unreal Engine 5, as well as the powerful foundation we’re building in close collaboration with Epic Games to push open-world design further than ever before.”.
“This early milestone makes us very proud, and we’re thrilled to show you some of the amazing technology that is influencing The Witcher’s future, including Unreal Animated Framework, Nanite Foliage, Smart Objects, ML Deformer, and Fast Geo Streaming. “,”.
The CDPR developers characterized the game, which was played on a base PlayStation 5, as a “technological showcase set in the world of The Witcher 4” while showcasing it.
“We began our collaboration with Epic Games to advance open-world game technology,” Michał Nowakowski, co-CEO of CDPR, added.
It’s a big accomplishment to present this early look at the work we’ve been doing with Unreal Engine 5 running at 60 frames per second on the PS5.
Although we’re far from done, [it’s] a testament to the excellent collaboration between our teams. As work on The Witcher 4 on Unreal Engine 5 progresses, I anticipate more innovations and exciting technology from this collaboration. “.
In 2022, CDPR and Epic announced their partnership. It will be the first game since The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings’ 2011 release that the developer does not use its proprietary RedEngine. An altered version of BioWare’s Aurora Engine was used in The Witcher (2007).
As stated at the time, the collaboration will see CDPR developers collaborating with Epic to further optimize Unreal Engine 5 to meet open-world development requirements.
CEO Tim Sweeney stated, “Epic has been developing Unreal Engine 5 to allow teams to create dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity.”.
“We are incredibly honored to have the chance to work with CDPR to expand the possibilities of interactive storytelling and gameplay, and this endeavor will have a long-term positive impact on the developer community.”. “,”.
Yesterday’s State of Unreal event marked the release of Unreal Engine 5.6 by Epic. Out of early access, MetaHuman 5.6 is a “digital human framework” that is integrated into the new engine.
It also revealed that RealityScan 2.0, which will support airborne laser scans, smarter image alignment, and AI-powered masking, will launch in the upcoming weeks.
The Witcher 4 tech demo showcased this technology, which helped developers “capture natural objects in high fidelity.”.
