A new Witcher game is in development

 A new Witcher game is in the works, according to CD Projekt, "kicking off a new saga for the franchise."

The new game will be made with Unreal Engine 5, rather of CD Projekt's REDengine, and will mark the start of "a multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games," according to the studio.

"It covers not only license, but also technical development of Unreal Engine 5 and, when applicable, potential future versions of Unreal Engine," CD Projekt explained. "We'll work closely with Epic Games' developers to help customize the engine for open-world experiences," says the company.

The switch to the new engine was made, according to CD Projekt, to help speed the development process. "From the start, we didn't see this as a conventional licensing deal; both CD Projekt Red and Epic saw this as a long-term, fruitful tech cooperation," stated CD Projekt Red CTO Pawe Zawodny. "It's critical for CD Projekt Red to settle on the technical direction of our next game as early as possible, as we've invested a lot of time and resources in the past evolving and adapting REDengine with each subsequent game release."

"This partnership is particularly exciting since it will improve development predictability and efficiency while also providing us with cutting-edge game development tools. I'm looking forward to the fantastic games we'll make using Unreal Engine 5!"

Despite the switch to a new engine, the studio has stated that the forthcoming Witcher game will not be an Epic Games Store exclusive.

CD Projekt has previously hinted at the possibility of a new Witcher game, but this is the first official confirmation. There are no more information available, however the teaser image included with the announcement hints that the next game will not include Geralt, as we suspected. It's impossible to tell what the snow-covered Witcher medallion is, but it's not from the School of the Wolf.

My first impression of the medallion was that it seemed like it came from the School of the Cat, an outcast school that appears to be the only one that trains women and non-humans. It's also the medallion that Ciri wears in The Witcher 3, except she didn't get it from the school; instead, she got it from a bounty hunter hired to kill her, which could hint at a post-Witcher 3 spinoff series.

Others, on the other hand, have compared it to the School of the Lynx, which the Witcher wiki claims arose shortly after the Wolf School's official closure. It was formed in collaboration with Wolf School hothead Lambert and his lover, the sorceress Keira Metz, by veterans of the School of the Cat. This would also make an excellent successor series, as it is obviously post-Geralt but still allows for cameos by him and other supporting characters from the Witcher trilogy.

As others have pointed out, the history of the Lynx School is unofficial—you might call it fanfic—but you could equally argue that the entire Witcher videogame trilogy is fanfic. In that context, it's not impossible to imagine this new school (or something similar) being used as a starting point for a new Witcher game.

The main line is that we have no notion right now, and I expect it to be a long time before we learn anything concrete. Whatever it is, for the time being, speculation is entertaining—and you can bet we'll be keeping a close eye on it.