CD Projekt Explained Its Decision to Switch From REDEngine to UE5. „So It Is Not About, This is So Bad That We Need to Switch”
CD Projekt RED abandoned REDengine to be able to focus on several projects at the same time. It was also stressed that the problematic release of Cyberpunk 2077 had nothing to do with it.
The Unreal Engine 5 has both its supporters and opponents. It's not surprising, as it's not a perfect technology and it struggles with its own problems, such as stuttering. According to Digital Foundry, CD Projekt RED may be able to fix this in The Witcher 4. Why did the Polish studio decide to abandon the proven solution, which was REDengine, and switch to the Epic Games product? Charles Tremblay, VP of Technology, spoke about this in an interview with Eurogamer.
It's not Cyberpunk 2077's fault
Some people might think that the departure from REDengine is related to the release of Cyberpunk 2077. The launch of this game, as we remember well, wasn't very successful, and the title struggled with many problems. However, Tremblay firmly denied this.
The first thing I want to say again, to be sure, 100 percent clear, is that the whole team, myself included, are extremely proud of the engine we built for Cyberpunk. So it is not about, 'This is so bad that we need to switch' and, you know, 'Kill me now' - that is not true. That is not true, and this is not why the decision was made to switch.
One engine, many games
The real reason for switching to UE5 was the desire to develop several projects at the same time. As we know, CD Projekt RED is currently working on The Witcher 4, the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, and the Hadar project. Thanks to this, all technicians in the studio can work on multiple games instead of specializing in just one technology.
The way we built stuff in the past was very one-sided, like one project at a time. We pushed the limit - but also we saw that if we wanted to have a multi-project at the same time, building in parallel, sharing technology together, it is not easy. So the idea was that we can push the technology, we can finally have all the technical people in the company working together on different projects, rather than super centralised into one technology that can very difficultly be shared between other projects.
The switch to UE5 also frees CD Projekt RED from the need to develop proprietary technology. In this case, the responsibility falls on Epic Games, which provides the appropriate tools and additionally offers customer support in case of any problems. Considering the fact that The Witcher 4 is supposed to be "better, bigger and more expanded than The Witcher 3," this is a big advantage.
The decision by CD Projekt RED, however, carries some negative consequences that may manifest later on and impact the entire gaming industry. We are talking about the market monopolization by Epic Games, whose technology is being used by a growing number of developers.
