{"id":2110815,"date":"2026-08-25T12:44:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2110815"},"modified":"2026-08-25T12:44:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T09:44:03","slug":"the-witcher-4s-2028-release-date-sparks-ps5-physical-release-concerns-but-is-there-anything-cd-projekt-red-can-do-to-avoid-sonys-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2110815","title":{"rendered":"The Witcher 4&#8217;s 2028 release date sparks PS5 physical release concerns, but is there anything CD Projekt Red can do to avoid Sony&#8217;s decision?"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">The Witcher 4&#8217;s 2028 release date sparks PS5 physical release concerns, but is there anything CD Projekt Red can do to avoid Sony&#8217;s decision?<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Hey Ciri.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/witcher-4-ciri-disc-playstation.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"A warrior woman with a furry hood, pale freckled skin, dark eye make-up and a long scar down her cheek - and silver-white hair - looks sideways towards an overlaid image of a disc that&apos;s approaching her. It&apos;s Ciri from The Witcher 4. And a disc.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"witcher-4-ciri-disc-playstation.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer \/ CD Projekt Red<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Robert Purchese avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"user-9946-originalxoriginal-14-03-23.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1017\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/robert-purchese\">Robert Purchese<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Associate Editor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-08-25T12:44:03+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Aug. 25, 2026, 12:44 p.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-witcher-4-release-date-sony-disc-controversy?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          25 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"5602a568-15bf-416c-8edc-63042b171df5\" data-name=\"The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt\" data-follow-text=\"Follow The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt\" title=\"Follow The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt\"><br \/>\n  Follow The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/the-witcher-4\">The Witcher 4<\/a>&#8216;s newly communicated 2028 release date is causing concern among its community about whether the game releases physically on a disc or not.<\/p>\n<p>CD Projekt Red announced yesterday it&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-witcher-4-release-date-2028\">&#8220;targeting&#8221; a 2028 release date for The Witcher 4<\/a>, though it didn&#8217;t specify when in the year it&#8217;s aiming for. &#8220;I know it&#8217;s a bit of a wait and you&#8217;d love to play it sooner, but let the team cook,&#8221; joint-CEO Michal Nowakowski announced in a video.<\/p>\n<p>The concerning part of that is The Witcher 4 arrives after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-ending-playstation-discs-physical-media-january-2028\">Sony plans to stop producing discs for PlayStation games<\/a> &#8211; a move which comes into effect January 2028, and which includes the making of discs for third-party games, which The Witcher 4 is. &#8220;Physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028,&#8221; Sony previously said.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"The Witcher 4 - Tech Demo Cinematic | State of Unreal 2025\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZnMan4Y0c3I?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/ZnMan4Y0c3I\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">The Witcher 4 &#8211; Tech Demo Cinematic | State of Unreal 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>The Witcher 4 tech demo from State of Unreal last year.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZnMan4Y0c3I\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This does not bode well for a disc-based release, and CDPR has not said anything in relation to it &#8211; I&#8217;ve asked for comment, incidentally. But the concern amongst the community is plain.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Awesome news except 2028 release means no physical release on ps5 and that sucks. Fingers crossed for physical edition on xbox or NS2 port in the future,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Aivymore\/status\/2091930328021574007\">wrote Aivymore on X<\/a>. &#8220;So no physical release \ud83d\ude1e,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/witcher\/comments\/1vx5wz0\/witcher_4_release_window_is_officially_confirmed\/\">wrote Mavakor on the Witcher subreddit<\/a>. &#8220;Sorry but #NoDiscNoBuy. Witcher and Cyberpunk are such huge IPs so please please please fight with those stupid decisions made [by] greedy Sony,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/simody.bsky.social\/post\/3mttrwigpyc2l\">wrote Simon on Bluesky<\/a>. And there are many other such remarks.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>What &#8211; if anything &#8211; CDPR can do to circumvent disc discontinuation, I don&#8217;t know. Perhaps if The Witcher 4 is released closer to the January cut-off point, rather than later in 2028, there&#8217;s a greater chance of a disc edition being produced. Presumably there might be a period of grace during the transition.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, it also brings into question whether there&#8217;ll be disc editions of The Witcher 4 on Xbox Series X, and likewise whether there&#8217;ll be physical editions of The Witcher 4 at all. However, I expect CDPR will want to do it given the company&#8217;s history of generous physical editions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/seeing-red-the-story-of-cd-projekt\">CDPR was partly founded on a promise of over-delivering in this regard<\/a>: a bumper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/baldurs-gate\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate<\/a> physical edition propelled the original physical distribution business to success, without which, we probably wouldn&#8217;t have the Witcher and Cyberpunk games we do today.<\/p>\n<p>Sony&#8217;s decision to stop producing game discs for PlayStation has been unpopular among the game-playing community, to say the least. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/playstation-blackout-physical-media-august-protest\">&#8216;Blackout&#8217; protests<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/petition-against-sony-killing-playstation-physical-media\">petitions<\/a> have been organised in response, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marvels-wolverine-story-trailer-sony-disc-outrage\">backlash has spread into comments sections for any game closely related to the company, such as Marvel&#8217;s Wolverine<\/a>. And as we get closer to the January 2028 cut-off period and start seeing games with 2028 release dates, I expect this will intensify.<\/p>\n<p>One other area of concern highlighted by the community after The Witcher 4 update video yesterday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/witcher-1-remake-will-be-open-world-modern-reimagining\">is the progress of The Witcher 1 remake<\/a>. This is being developed by Fool&#8217;s Theory, the team also making The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-songs-of-the-past\">Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past<\/a> with CDPR, and helping make The Witcher 4.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Presumably Fool&#8217;s Theory will return to The Witcher 1 remake after Songs of the Past is released, at some point next year, though will The Witcher 4&#8217;s impending release then suck attention away from it again? Also, CDPR has ambitious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/a-whole-new-witcher-trilogy-of-games-released-within-six-years-of-each-other-is-that-even-possible-cd-projekt-red-thinks-so\">plans to follow The Witcher 4 with two sequels <em>within six years<\/em><\/a> thereafter, meaning Fool&#8217;s Theory&#8217;s help may be sought long after. We&#8217;ll see.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight&#8217;s the night for Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past, which is being unveiled during the Opening Night Live broadcast from 7pm BST, and then shown at Gamescom thereafter, where we&#8217;ll be going to see it. We&#8217;ll be covering Opening Night Live on Eurogamer so look out for our live report.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/the-witcher-4\">The Witcher 4<\/a>&#8216;s newly communicated 2028 release date is causing concern among its community about whether the game releases physically on a disc or not.<\/p>\n<p>CD Projekt Red announced yesterday it&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-witcher-4-release-date-2028\">&#8220;targeting&#8221; a 2028 release date for The Witcher 4<\/a>, though it didn&#8217;t specify when in the year it&#8217;s aiming for. &#8220;I know it&#8217;s a bit of a wait and you&#8217;d love to play it sooner, but let the team cook,&#8221; joint-CEO Michal Nowakowski announced in a video.<\/p>\n<p>The concerning part of that is The Witcher 4 arrives after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-ending-playstation-discs-physical-media-january-2028\">Sony plans to stop producing discs for PlayStation games<\/a> &#8211; a move which comes into effect January 2028, and which includes the making of discs for third-party games, which The Witcher 4 is. &#8220;Physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028,&#8221; Sony previously said.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"The Witcher 4 - Tech Demo Cinematic | State of Unreal 2025\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZnMan4Y0c3I?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/ZnMan4Y0c3I\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">The Witcher 4 &#8211; Tech Demo Cinematic | State of Unreal 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>The Witcher 4 tech demo from State of Unreal last year.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZnMan4Y0c3I\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This does not bode well for a disc-based release, and CDPR has not said anything in relation to it &#8211; I&#8217;ve asked for comment, incidentally. But the concern amongst the community is plain.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Awesome news except 2028 release means no physical release on ps5 and that sucks. Fingers crossed for physical edition on xbox or NS2 port in the future,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Aivymore\/status\/2091930328021574007\">wrote Aivymore on X<\/a>. &#8220;So no physical release \ud83d\ude1e,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/witcher\/comments\/1vx5wz0\/witcher_4_release_window_is_officially_confirmed\/\">wrote Mavakor on the Witcher subreddit<\/a>. &#8220;Sorry but #NoDiscNoBuy. Witcher and Cyberpunk are such huge IPs so please please please fight with those stupid decisions made [by] greedy Sony,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/simody.bsky.social\/post\/3mttrwigpyc2l\">wrote Simon on Bluesky<\/a>. And there are many other such remarks.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>What &#8211; if anything &#8211; CDPR can do to circumvent disc discontinuation, I don&#8217;t know. Perhaps if The Witcher 4 is released closer to the January cut-off point, rather than later in 2028, there&#8217;s a greater chance of a disc edition being produced. Presumably there might be a period of grace during the transition.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, it also brings into question whether there&#8217;ll be disc editions of The Witcher 4 on Xbox Series X, and likewise whether there&#8217;ll be physical editions of The Witcher 4 at all. However, I expect CDPR will want to do it given the company&#8217;s history of generous physical editions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/seeing-red-the-story-of-cd-projekt\">CDPR was partly founded on a promise of over-delivering in this regard<\/a>: a bumper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/baldurs-gate\">Baldur&#8217;s Gate<\/a> physical edition propelled the original physical distribution business to success, without which, we probably wouldn&#8217;t have the Witcher and Cyberpunk games we do today.<\/p>\n<p>Sony&#8217;s decision to stop producing game discs for PlayStation has been unpopular among the game-playing community, to say the least. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/playstation-blackout-physical-media-august-protest\">&#8216;Blackout&#8217; protests<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/petition-against-sony-killing-playstation-physical-media\">petitions<\/a> have been organised in response, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/marvels-wolverine-story-trailer-sony-disc-outrage\">backlash has spread into comments sections for any game closely related to the company, such as Marvel&#8217;s Wolverine<\/a>. And as we get closer to the January 2028 cut-off period and start seeing games with 2028 release dates, I expect this will intensify.<\/p>\n<p>One other area of concern highlighted by the community after The Witcher 4 update video yesterday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/witcher-1-remake-will-be-open-world-modern-reimagining\">is the progress of The Witcher 1 remake<\/a>. This is being developed by Fool&#8217;s Theory, the team also making The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-songs-of-the-past\">Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past<\/a> with CDPR, and helping make The Witcher 4.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Presumably Fool&#8217;s Theory will return to The Witcher 1 remake after Songs of the Past is released, at some point next year, though will The Witcher 4&#8217;s impending release then suck attention away from it again? Also, CDPR has ambitious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/a-whole-new-witcher-trilogy-of-games-released-within-six-years-of-each-other-is-that-even-possible-cd-projekt-red-thinks-so\">plans to follow The Witcher 4 with two sequels <em>within six years<\/em><\/a> thereafter, meaning Fool&#8217;s Theory&#8217;s help may be sought long after. We&#8217;ll see.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight&#8217;s the night for Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past, which is being unveiled during the Opening Night Live broadcast from 7pm BST, and then shown at Gamescom thereafter, where we&#8217;ll be going to see it. We&#8217;ll be covering Opening Night Live on Eurogamer so look out for our live report.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News The Witcher 4&#8217;s 2028 release date sparks PS5 physical release concerns, but is there anything CD Projekt Red can do to avoid Sony&#8217;s decision? Hey Ciri. Image credit: Eurogamer \/ CD Projekt Red News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Published on Aug. 25, 2026, 12:44 p.m. 25 comments Follow The Witcher 3: Wild [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2110815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2110815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2110815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2110815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2110815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}