The Witcher 4 has a "console-first" philosophy and a 60fps target to avoid another Cyberpunk 2077 situation, though the Xbox Series S is "extremely challenging"

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The Series X's little sibling causing more challenges

The Witcher 4
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

CD Projekt Red is hard at work developing The Witcher 4, and it seems the company is learning from its past mistakes when it comes to technical performance.

The developer is now using Unreal Engine 5 to make The Witcher 4 instead of its bespoke RED Engine, and Charles Tremblay, vice president of technology at CD Projekt Red, tells Digital Foundry that since it had problems in the past going PC-first and then scaling down for console, "this time around we really want to be more console-first."

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It's aiming for 60fps on console, and even showed off a Witcher 4 demo on a PS5 to prove that it's possible. Unlike Cyberpunk 2077, which only had PC review copies available and then initially ran like cold sludge on consoles, this game should hopefully be different.

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But what about the less-powerful Xbox Series S? Microsoft requires parity across its Xbox Series range, and this has proved troublesome before, with the Black Myth: Wukong developers blaming the budget-friendly Series S for a delay in the Xbox port of the action RPG.

"I wish we did a lot of work already on that, but we did not," admits Tremblay. "So, this is something that is next on our radar for sure. [...] 60fps will definitely be extremely challenging on the Series S. Let's just say that it's something that we need to figure out."

Microsoft has allowed games to launch on the Series consoles without parity before though. Baldur's Gate 3 came to Xbox because Larian and Xbox boss Phil Spencer "found a solution": it dropped split-screen on the Series S.

So, Microsoft might be willing to drop that parity requirement for a game as highly anticipated as The Witcher 4 if it guarantees more people can buy it on Xbox. But hopefully CD Projekt Red manages to get the game to 60fps on Series S without compromising it too much.

While you wait, check out the best Xbox Series X games you can play today.

Issy van der Velde
Issy van der Velde
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I'm Issy, a freelancer who you'll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I've always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you'll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I'm currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.

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