Getting The Witcher 4 to run at 60FPS on Xbox Series S will be ‘extremely challenging’ says CDPR

CD Projekt Red has discussed its plans for The Witcher 4 on the Xbox Series S, and has said getting the game to run at 60 FPS will be “extremely challenging.”

Earlier this monnth CD Projekt [397 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/cd-projekt/”>CD Projekt debuted a tech demo which it said was representative of what The Witcher 4 [41 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/the-witcher-4/”>The Witcher 4 will look like on PlayStation 5 [7,858 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps5/”>PS5, but not the game itself.

“This is a tech demo, and a first look at the cutting-edge technology powering The Witcher 4 – but not The Witcher 4 itself,” a spokesperson told VGC following the demo’s debut.

“It showcases the powerful foundation we’re building in close collaboration with Epic Games [1,079 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/epic-games/”>Epic Games to push open-world design further than ever before and the core systems and features we’re developing using Unreal Engine 5.

“We’re really proud of this early milestone and excited to give you a sneak peek at some of the cool tech like UAF, Nanite Foliage, Smart Objects, ML Deformer and FastGeo Streaming that are helping shape the future of The Witcher.”

Now, speaking to Digital Foundry, the developer has discussed getting the game to run at a high framerate on Xbox Game Studios (Microsoft) [3,568 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/microsoft/”>Microsoft‘s lower-spec machine.

Speaking on the Xbox [9,944 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/xbox/”>Xbox Series S, Charles Tremblay, CD Projekt RED [438 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/cd-projekt/cd-projekt-red/”>CD Projekt Red‘s vice president of technology said “This is something that’s next on our radar, 60 FPS will be extremely challenging on the Series S.”

It’s currently a mandatory requirement for developers to ensure that their games are compatible with both Series X and Series S in order to release them for Microsoft’s consoles.

But some developers have argued that having to cater to Microsoft’s entry-level console limits the potential of current-gen games.

In December 2023, Baldur’s Gate 3 [119 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/baldurs-gate-3/”>Baldur’s Gate 3 received a delayed release on Xbox Series X | S [6,370 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/xbox/seriesxs/”>Xbox Series X/S after Microsoft allowed Larian Studios [92 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/larian-studios/”>Larian Studios to launch the S version without split-screen co-op, a mode it had been struggling to get working sufficiently on the lower-powered console.

The first trailer for The Witcher 4 was shown at The Game Awards [409 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/events/the-game-awards/”>The Game Awards in December 2024, revealing that the game will follow Ciri, last seen in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [248 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/”>The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

In an interview with VGC, narrative director Phillipp Weber said he knew the decision to change the series’ protagonist would be controversial with some fans, and that the team wants to prove it was the correct choice for the game.