{"id":2120429,"date":"2026-08-31T10:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2120429"},"modified":"2026-08-31T10:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T07:10:17","slug":"the-witcher-4-already-runs-on-all-target-platforms-cd-projekt-red-not-taking-any-chances-after-cyberpunk-2077","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2120429","title":{"rendered":"The Witcher 4 already runs on all target platforms &#8211; CD Projekt Red not taking any chances after Cyberpunk 2077"},"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 already runs on all target platforms &#8211; CD Projekt Red not taking any chances after Cyberpunk 2077<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;We want to be sure that it actually works&#8221;.<\/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\/The-Witcher-4-%E2%80%93-Cinematic-Reveal-Trailer-%E2%80%93-Behind-the-scenes-1-6-screenshot.png?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Close up on white-haired Ciri from The Witcher 4 cinematic reveal trailer\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"The-Witcher-4-%E2%80%93-Cinematic-Reveal-Trailer-%E2%80%93-Behind-the-scenes-1-6-screenshot.png\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>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=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\">\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\/sherif-saed\">Sherif Saed<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Senior Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-08-31T10:10:17+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Aug. 31, 2026, 10:10 a.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-witcher-4-runs-on-pc-ps5-xbox-cyberpunk-2077-lessons?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          12 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=\"c177243e-1a0c-42f8-9d7b-0169323adfa3\" data-name=\"Cyberpunk 2077\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Cyberpunk 2077\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Cyberpunk 2077\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Cyberpunk 2077\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Cyberpunk 2077\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Cyberpunk 2077\" title=\"Follow Cyberpunk 2077\"><br \/>\n  Follow Cyberpunk 2077<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>, CD Projekt Red&#8217;s next major game, will hopefully not suffer the performance problems of the studio&#8217;s former major release, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/cyberpunk-2077\">Cyberpunk 2077<\/a>. The developer, keenly aware of the latter&#8217;s disastrous launch, has adopted a new approach to game optimisation for the former.<\/p>\n<p>Put simply: CDPR currently has the game running on all its target platforms to avoid any surprises later into development. &#8220;You come to the studio, you launch Witcher 4 right now,&#8221; studio co-CEO Michal Nowakowski told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/production\/cd-projekt-red-has-the-witcher-4-running-on-all-target-platforms-after-cyberpunk-2077-lesson\">Game Developer<\/a>. &#8220;You can launch it on PC. You can launch it on PS5. You can launch it on Xbox Series X, and it&#8217;s going to run.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Leaving performance optimisation until the end of development is a common practice, but that approach was particularly brutal for Cyberpunk 2077, which released across two console generations &#8211; and PC &#8211; simultaneously.<\/p>\n<p>Cyberpunk 2077 was famously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalfoundry.net\/articles\/digitalfoundry-2077-cyberpunk-2077-how-bad-is-last-gen-performance-and-can-it-be-improved\">nearly unplayable on PS4 and Xbox One due to numerous technical issues<\/a>. Though the game fared better on PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S, those versions suffered problems of their own. The issues were so pervasive that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-pulls-cyberpunk-2077-from-the-playstation-store\">Sony pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store<\/a>. The game <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/cyberpunk-2077-finally-returns-to-playstation-store-still-with-warning-not-to-buy-for-base-ps4\">returned six months later<\/a> after receiving several patches.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The way the studio was thinking was that we are reaching for the best possible visuals,&#8221; Nowakowski explained. &#8220;We want to push the boundaries of what is doable in terms of cinematic feeling and whatnot, and PC was just the best suited rig for that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Close up of Ciri from The Witcher 4 cinematic trailer, female magical warrior with long silver hair\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/The-Witcher-4-%E2%80%93-Cinematic-Reveal-Trailer-%E2%80%93-Behind-the-scenes-1-56-screenshot-(1).png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1600\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Close up of Ciri from The Witcher 4 cinematic trailer, female magical warrior with long silver hair\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"The-Witcher-4-%E2%80%93-Cinematic-Reveal-Trailer-%E2%80%93-Behind-the-scenes-1-56-screenshot-(1).png\" height=\"900\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1600\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>CD Projekt Red<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Nowakowski added the team had this &#8220;false belief&#8221; that it wouldn&#8217;t be much of a challenge to &#8220;tone down&#8221; the experience to fit the target console in question. That was what the studio did with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt\">The Witcher 3<\/a>, so it carried those lessons into Cyberpunk 2077. Even then, Nowakowski admitted the studio &#8220;got a bit lucky here and there&#8221; with performance optimisation on consoles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since then, we don&#8217;t take chances,&#8221; he went on. &#8220;We want to be sure that it actually works.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That refined approach also extends to how the studio tracks development milestones internally, and how it addresses platform-specific problems. &#8220;For example, technically, we should hit, let&#8217;s say, 10 checkmarks,&#8221; Nowakowski explained.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Back in the past, if we missed one or two, we were like, &#8216;we&#8217;re gonna catch up with that later on.&#8217; Sometimes we did, but sometimes we didn&#8217;t, and then two milestones or three milestones down the road, you have like four or five missing checkmarks and it&#8217;s not that easy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Witcher 4 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-witcher-4-release-date-2028\">is currently targeting a 2028 release<\/a>, though that could slip. Still, that should hopefully be enough time for CDPR to deliver a stable, relatively bug-free release on day one across all platforms. The Witcher 4 is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S.<\/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>, CD Projekt Red&#8217;s next major game, will hopefully not suffer the performance problems of the studio&#8217;s former major release, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/cyberpunk-2077\">Cyberpunk 2077<\/a>. The developer, keenly aware of the latter&#8217;s disastrous launch, has adopted a new approach to game optimisation for the former.<\/p>\n<p>Put simply: CDPR currently has the game running on all its target platforms to avoid any surprises later into development. &#8220;You come to the studio, you launch Witcher 4 right now,&#8221; studio co-CEO Michal Nowakowski told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamedeveloper.com\/production\/cd-projekt-red-has-the-witcher-4-running-on-all-target-platforms-after-cyberpunk-2077-lesson\">Game Developer<\/a>. &#8220;You can launch it on PC. You can launch it on PS5. You can launch it on Xbox Series X, and it&#8217;s going to run.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Leaving performance optimisation until the end of development is a common practice, but that approach was particularly brutal for Cyberpunk 2077, which released across two console generations &#8211; and PC &#8211; simultaneously.<\/p>\n<p>Cyberpunk 2077 was famously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalfoundry.net\/articles\/digitalfoundry-2077-cyberpunk-2077-how-bad-is-last-gen-performance-and-can-it-be-improved\">nearly unplayable on PS4 and Xbox One due to numerous technical issues<\/a>. Though the game fared better on PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S, those versions suffered problems of their own. The issues were so pervasive that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-pulls-cyberpunk-2077-from-the-playstation-store\">Sony pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store<\/a>. The game <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/cyberpunk-2077-finally-returns-to-playstation-store-still-with-warning-not-to-buy-for-base-ps4\">returned six months later<\/a> after receiving several patches.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The way the studio was thinking was that we are reaching for the best possible visuals,&#8221; Nowakowski explained. &#8220;We want to push the boundaries of what is doable in terms of cinematic feeling and whatnot, and PC was just the best suited rig for that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Close up of Ciri from The Witcher 4 cinematic trailer, female magical warrior with long silver hair\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/The-Witcher-4-%E2%80%93-Cinematic-Reveal-Trailer-%E2%80%93-Behind-the-scenes-1-56-screenshot-(1).png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1600\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Close up of Ciri from The Witcher 4 cinematic trailer, female magical warrior with long silver hair\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"The-Witcher-4-%E2%80%93-Cinematic-Reveal-Trailer-%E2%80%93-Behind-the-scenes-1-56-screenshot-(1).png\" height=\"900\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1600\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>CD Projekt Red<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Nowakowski added the team had this &#8220;false belief&#8221; that it wouldn&#8217;t be much of a challenge to &#8220;tone down&#8221; the experience to fit the target console in question. That was what the studio did with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt\">The Witcher 3<\/a>, so it carried those lessons into Cyberpunk 2077. Even then, Nowakowski admitted the studio &#8220;got a bit lucky here and there&#8221; with performance optimisation on consoles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Since then, we don&#8217;t take chances,&#8221; he went on. &#8220;We want to be sure that it actually works.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That refined approach also extends to how the studio tracks development milestones internally, and how it addresses platform-specific problems. &#8220;For example, technically, we should hit, let&#8217;s say, 10 checkmarks,&#8221; Nowakowski explained.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Back in the past, if we missed one or two, we were like, &#8216;we&#8217;re gonna catch up with that later on.&#8217; Sometimes we did, but sometimes we didn&#8217;t, and then two milestones or three milestones down the road, you have like four or five missing checkmarks and it&#8217;s not that easy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"2\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Witcher 4 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-witcher-4-release-date-2028\">is currently targeting a 2028 release<\/a>, though that could slip. Still, that should hopefully be enough time for CDPR to deliver a stable, relatively bug-free release on day one across all platforms. The Witcher 4 is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X\/S.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News The Witcher 4 already runs on all target platforms &#8211; CD Projekt Red not taking any chances after Cyberpunk 2077 &#8220;We want to be sure that it actually works&#8221;. Image credit: CD Projekt Red News by Sherif Saed Senior Contributor Published on Aug. 31, 2026, 10:10 a.m. 12 comments Follow Cyberpunk 2077 The [&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-2120429","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\/2120429","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=2120429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2120429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2120429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2120429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}