CD Projekt Red confirmed earlier this month that The Witcher 4 is targeting a 2028 release, which puts it firmly in the year of Sony nixing game discs and ushering us unwillingly into an all-digital future. But that doesn't mean CDPR won't endeavor to launch a physical edition. There's just a slight, GTA 6-shaped catch.
"We don't know what's going to be the case," Studio joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski told The Game Business. "We know what PlayStation has announced. And we have no influence on the policies of the first parties. The discs for the first parties, including PlayStation, have to be manufactured in their own factories. So, if they stop manufacturing indeed by 2028, then yes [we won't have a disc]."
Sony said as much in a recent earnings call, when CFO Lin Tao assured retailers that they could still sell 'physical editions' with code in boxes, i.e. redeemable vouchers that grant you digital licenses to games rather than discs. There's no assurance that the PS6 will even have a disc drive, so if CDPR somehow secured another way to produce discs in time for next-gen consoles (presuming they launch in 2028), there's no guarantee those discs...
