Upcoming ‘Witcher’ game will not be “exclusive to one storefront”

nme.com:

CD Projekt Red has announced that the studio’s next mainline The Witcher game will not be exclusive to any particular storefronts, including the Epic Games Store.Yesterday (March 21), the official Twitter account for The Witcher games replied to a user who claimed that the next Witcher game would be an Epic Games Store exclusive at launch.In response, CD Projekt Red shared that it is “not planning on making the game exclusive to one storefront”.The confirmation came on the same day that the studio announced “the next instalment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development“.This announcement appears to have caused some confusion for fans, as CD Projekt Red’s initial statement mentioned the company going into a “multi-year strategic partnership with Epic Games“.However, this collaboration seems strictly limited to helping Epic Games develop Unreal Engine to “help tailor the engine for open-world experiences”.This means that – at least for PC – the next Witcher game may appear on Steam, Epic Games Store and CD Projekt Red’s own storefront, GOG, simultaneously.Though details are incredibly light on what the upcoming game will involve, CD Projekt Red has confirmed that it will use Unreal Engine 5 rather than the studio’s own in-house engine, REDengine.The next Witcher game will also kick off “a new saga for the franchise,” however at the moment “no further details regarding the game – such as development time frame or release date – are available”.