Witcher, Cyberpunk Sequels tested on all platforms from day 1, CDPR optimizes UE5

At this point it’s clear that some things went fundamentally wrong in the development of Cyberpunk 2077. Sure, the game just launched too early, but it seems like it was barely tested on certain platforms and some features were promised without the developers knowing they could feasibly be implemented. The result was a game that will likely never reach CD Projekt Red’s pre-launch glory, no matter how many patches are released.

Well, CD Projekt Red recently announced an ambitious lineup of projects, including a new The Witcher three-game saga, two more spinoff Witcher titles from other studios, a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, and an all-new IP. It’s potentially exciting news, but given Cyberpunk 2077’s chaotic development, many fans are understandably concerned. Thankfully, CDPR seems to realize what they did wrong, as they released a developer video promising to follow “good engineering practices” going forward. See for yourself below.

These good technical practices include adhering to the “always working game” rule, which means that the core systems of all future CDPR games will work from the start, allowing them to be continuously iterated and improved. As part of this, CDPR will be constantly testing its new games on all target systems – no longer just focus on the PC and fingers crossed, the console ports will work like magic.

“An example for [good engineering practices] is the “always working game rule” we follow. It allows us to iterate and address various project risks at an early stage of development. […] Building complete gameplay features from scratch by assembling aspects like controls, animation or UI allows us to test them thoroughly and iterate them many times.

A major risk in the development process concerns stability and performance on all target platforms. In this context, too, the “always working rule of the game” applies. We test gameplay quality from the start on each platform and don’t just focus on the developers’ PC build.”

CD Projekt Red also plans to create a “usability lab” where new games will be continually tested with real players to ensure everything fits together nicely. Many of these better practices are possible thanks to the move to the better-documented and supported Unreal Engine 5, but CDPR isn’t content with just sitting back and using Epic’s standard tools. Although CDPR will no longer use their own engine, they plan to optimize UE5 with new tools that they hope will give them a competitive edge over others also using Epic’s technology.

“Just because we use the Unreal Engine doesn’t mean we stop investing in technology. We need to develop systems to run our games, which requires tweaking the components of the engine to better suit our creativity [ambitions]. Based on our experience with large-scale, story-driven, open-world RPGs […] We enrich UE5 with tools that enable the creation of high-quality content. The goal here is to ensure that such tools fit the specific nature of our studio and the games we intend to develop.

A good example is […] Systems that allow the development of narrative aspects, including quests. We have some great new ideas on how to improve [our tools] expand it even further and then use it as our competitive advantage.”

Overall, it sounds like some positive steps are being taken. Now the challenge can become too much. CDPR says they’re now working on two concurrent projects thanks to Unreal Engine 5, and that’s likely to expand in the future. Hopefully the focus will remain on quality.

What do you think? Is CD Projekt Red saying the right things? Will Unreal Engine 5 and its new technical standards help them create better Witcher and Cyberpunk games?