CD Projekt Red Reveals The Witcher 4 Tech Demo, Not Actual Gameplay

CD Projekt Red has clarified that the footage of The Witcher 4 presented at the State of Unreal 2025 was a technological showcase, rather than actual gameplay. According to the developer, this demo provided a first look at the advanced technology that will power The Witcher 4, but did not represent the game itself. The demo, which was run on a PlayStation 5, highlighted the collaboration between CD Projekt Red and Epic Games to push the boundaries of open-world game design using Unreal Engine 5. The technological showcase featured various cutting-edge tools, including the Unreal Animated Framework, Nanite Foliage, Smart Objects, ML Deformer, and Fast Geo Streaming. CDPR co-CEO Michał Nowakowski emphasized the significance of this milestone, stating that it demonstrates the great cooperation between the two companies and paves the way for further advancements in the development of The Witcher 4 on Unreal Engine 5. This partnership, announced in 2022, marks CDPR's first game to utilize a non-proprietary engine since The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating that it will enable the creation of dynamic open worlds at an unprecedented scale and level of fidelity, ultimately benefiting the developer community. The recent State of Unreal event also saw the launch of Unreal Engine 5.6, which includes the MetaHuman 5.6 digital human framework and the upcoming RealityScan 2.0, featuring AI-powered masking and smarter image alignment.