CD Projekt Red promises a physical box for The Witcher 4 even if PS5 discs disappear

CD Projekt Red joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski has confirmed that The Witcher 4 will ship with some kind of physical edition regardless of what happens to PlayStation disc manufacturing — but admitted the studio has zero control over whether that box will actually contain a disc.

Speaking to The Game Business at Gamescom, Nowakowski was direct about the studio's limitations: "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]." What CD Projekt Red can guarantee is a box with what Nowakowski called "feelies" — physical collectibles, the kind of extras the studio has packed into its releases for years. "We're big fans of people having access to tangible collectible things," he said. "We're nerds ourselves, and we like that. So, whatever is the case, we're going to be for sure having a box."

The stakes here are real. Sony announced plans to halt PlayStation disc manufacturing starting January 2028 — the same window Nowakowski recently narrowed The Witcher 4's release into, after it had previously sat in a vague "not before 2027" holding pattern. CD Projekt Red has a strong track record with physical releases: both The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077 standard editions shipped with maps, stickers, developer letters, postcards, and more — the kind of extras usually reserved for collector's editions. Losing the disc doesn't automatically kill that tradition, but it does complicate it, and the timing overlap between Sony's cutoff and the game's likely autumn 2028 window makes a disc-based PS5 copy look increasingly unlikely.

For now, The Witcher 4 — the Ciri-led follow-up to The Witcher 3 — has no firm release date. While the wait continues, CD Projekt Red has the Witcher 3: Songs of the Past expansion arriving next year and a full Remastered edition of The Witcher 3 landing on 29th September, which overhauls combat, enemy behavior, skill trees, horse riding, and more.