Image credit: Eurogamer / CD Projekt Red

The Witcher 4's newly communicated 2028 release date is causing concern among its community about whether the game releases physically on a disc or not.

CD Projekt Red announced yesterday it's "targeting" a 2028 release date for The Witcher 4, though it didn't specify when in the year it's aiming for. "I know it's a bit of a wait and you'd love to play it sooner, but let the team cook," joint-CEO Michal Nowakowski announced in a video.

The concerning part of that is The Witcher 4 arrives after Sony plans to stop producing discs for PlayStation games - a move which comes into effect January 2028, and which includes the making of discs for third-party games, which The Witcher 4 is. "Physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028," Sony previously said.

The Witcher 4 tech demo from State of Unreal last year.Watch on YouTube

This does not bode well for a disc-based release, and CDPR has not said anything in relation to it - I've asked for comment, incidentally. But the concern amongst the community is plain.

"Awesome news except 2028 release means no physical release on ps5 and that sucks. Fingers crossed for physical edition on xbox or NS2 port in the future," wrote Aivymore on X. "So no physical release 😞," wrote Mavakor on the Witcher subreddit. "Sorry but #NoDiscNoBuy. Witcher and Cyberpunk are such huge IPs so please please please fight with those stupid decisions made [by] greedy Sony," wrote Simon on Bluesky. And there are many other such remarks.

What - if anything - CDPR can do to circumvent disc discontinuation, I don't know. Perhaps if The Witcher 4 is released closer to the January cut-off point, rather than later in 2028, there's a greater chance of a disc edition being produced. Presumably there might be a period of grace during the transition.

Regardless, it also brings into question whether there'll be disc editions of The Witcher 4 on Xbox Series X, and likewise whether there'll be physical editions of The Witcher 4 at all. However, I expect CDPR will want to do it given the company's history of generous physical editions. CDPR was partly founded on a promise of over-delivering in this regard: a bumper Baldur's Gate physical edition propelled the original physical distribution business to success, without which, we probably wouldn't have the Witcher and Cyberpunk games we do today.

Sony's decision to stop producing game discs for PlayStation has been unpopular among the game-playing community, to say the least. 'Blackout' protests and petitions have been organised in response, and backlash has spread into comments sections for any game closely related to the company, such as Marvel's Wolverine. And as we get closer to the January 2028 cut-off period and start seeing games with 2028 release dates, I expect this will intensify.

One other area of concern highlighted by the community after The Witcher 4 update video yesterday is the progress of The Witcher 1 remake. This is being developed by Fool's Theory, the team also making The Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past with CDPR, and helping make The Witcher 4.

Presumably Fool's Theory will return to The Witcher 1 remake after Songs of the Past is released, at some point next year, though will The Witcher 4's impending release then suck attention away from it again? Also, CDPR has ambitious plans to follow The Witcher 4 with two sequels within six years thereafter, meaning Fool's Theory's help may be sought long after. We'll see.

Tonight's the night for Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past, which is being unveiled during the Opening Night Live broadcast from 7pm BST, and then shown at Gamescom thereafter, where we'll be going to see it. We'll be covering Opening Night Live on Eurogamer so look out for our live report.

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