March 22 (UPI) -- Warsaw-based video game developer CD Projekt Red announced Monday that the next installment in the popular The Witcher series is currently in development.
While little was unveiled about the upcoming game, the developer's announcement did confirm that the new game will be "kicking off a new saga for the franchise and a new technology partnership with Epic Games."
CD Projekt Red revealed that it is using Unreal Engine 5 instead of REDengine to create the game. The Polish developer, however, said there wasn't any plans to make the game exclusive to one storefront despite its partnership with Epic.
"We're happy to announce that the next installment in The Witcher series of video games is currently in development, kicking off a new saga for the franchise," CD Projekt Red said in a news release. "This is an exciting moment as we're moving from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5, beginning a multiyear strategic partnership with Epic Games.
"It covers not only licensing, but technical development of Unreal Engine 5, as well as potential future versions of Unreal Engine, where relevant. We'll closely collaborate with Epic Games' developers with the primary goal being to help tailor the engine for open-world experiences."
The company declined to provide a development time frame or release date, but CD Projekt Red shared a teaser image that features a medallion and the phrase, "A new saga begins."
The transition to Unreal Engine 5 is notable given that CD Projekt Red had used their own proprietary REDengine to build their games since The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.
Though the new Witcher game will utilize Unreal technology, CD Projekt Red said it will continue to use REDengine for the development of the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 expansion.
The Witcher 3 was released in 2015 and captured a total of 250 Game of the Year awards. CD Projekt Red is still planning to release the next-gen upgrade for The Witcher 3 later this year.
