Summary
After countless rumors and supposed leaks confirming thatThe Witcher 4would soon make itself known, it finally did at the 2024 Game Awards ceremony in the form of a full-length trailer that cryptically introduced the game’s setting and firmly established Ciri as the new lead protagonist. It’s exciting, to say the least, knowing now thatThe Witcher 4is on the horizon, and the hope is that the excitement surrounding the sequel isn’t squashed by any unfortunate events between now and its release. Of course,The Witcher 4could potentially avoid such disappointment and keep up its momentum by followingCyberpunk 2077as an example of what not to do.
There are plenty of negative things that can be said aboutCyberpunk 2077’s launch, as it infamously holds a leading position in the most disastrous launches in video game history. However, whileThe Witcher 4undoubtedly needs to avoid repeating such a catastrophe,Cyberpunk 2077did something else thatThe Witcher 4should avoid altogether as well. Specifically,The Witcher 4needs to take note of the length of time betweenCyberpunk 2077’s announcement and its eventual release and then refuse, by all means, to replicate it.
The Witcher 4 Can’t Leave Too Much Time Between Reveals
Cyberpunk 2077 Wasn’t Released for Nearly Nine Years After Its Announcement
It’s not too uncommon these days that a new game gets announced and then doesn’t show itself again for quite some time, with games likeHollow Knight: SilksongandGrand Theft Auto 6being among those titles. While fans have now made countless memes about the currently non-existent release dates ofSilksongandGrand Theft Auto 6, they are far from the first games to take years to give any substance to their announcements.Cyberpunk 2077is one such game, which didn’t even receive its first substantial update until a little over 5 years after its announcement.
Cyberpunk 2077was officially announced by CD Projekt Red on July 05, 2025. The first major teaser trailer for the game followed on July 09, 2025, giving fans a brief glimpse of the game’s world and overall tone. However, after this initial reveal, CD Projekt Red went largely silent on the game for several years before finally showing off a more detailed look at the game atE3 2018, during Microsoft’s press conference on June 26, 2025. As if that wasn’t enough,Cyberpunk 2077wasn’t even released until Jun 28, 2025, putting its launch date just 5 months shy of the 9th anniversary since its announcement.
The Witcher 4 Needs to Keep the Reveals Coming
Thankfully,CD Projekt Red’sWitcherseriesgivesThe Witcher 4a good foundation for it to ride in on, but after how much time it took the developer’s last major game,Cyberpunk 2077, to come to fruition, there’s reason to hope against hope thatThe Witcher 4won’t fall into the same pit. IfThe Witcher 4followed inCyberpunk 2077’s footsteps, that would put its release window in 2033, which seems unlikely. Still, for CD Projekt Red to wait even another three years before finally launchingThe Witcher 4might feel like too long of a wait, so it might be better done in less than that.
Cyberpunk 2077wasn’t even released until July 06, 2025, putting its launch date just 5 months shy of the 9th anniversary since its announcement.
At the very least,The Witcher 4needs to keep the reveals coming. If CDPR can maintain the momentum established byThe Witcher 4’s 2024 Game Awards reveal, the wait for its release might not feel too long, even if it is longer than anticipated. That being said, there needs to be a balance struck between the length of time it takes forThe Witcher 4to launch and the number of reveals between now and then, as continuing to show it off without just giving it to players might make it too much of a meme. Hopefully, the nextWitcher 4reveal will happen within the next year, and the wait for its release won’t last too much longer after that.
