A Witcher 4 Genesis: How a Witcher 3 Side Quest Prepared the Team
The development of The Witcher 4 began, in part, with a seemingly unassuming side quest for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This unique approach served as an onboarding experience for new team members, seamlessly blending preparation with a clever marketing strategy.
Ciri's starring role in The Witcher 4, launching a new trilogy, was foreshadowed years prior in the original Witcher 3, where she played a significant part in Geralt's journey. The 2024 Game Awards trailer solidified her central position in the upcoming installment.
The pivotal side quest, "In the Eternal Fire's Shadow," added to The Witcher 3 in late 2022, served multiple purposes. Beyond promoting the game's next-gen update, it provided in-game justification for the armor worn by Henry Cavill in the Netflix series. Crucially, as revealed by Philipp Webber, narrative director for The Witcher 4 and quest designer for The Witcher 3, this quest acted as an initiation process for new team members joining the Witcher 4 development.
Webber's social media post highlights the quest's role in re-establishing the series' atmosphere and setting the tone for the new project. This aligns with the Witcher 4's March 2022 announcement, approximately nine months prior to the side quest's release. While pre-announcement planning undoubtedly occurred, the quest provides a tangible starting point for the team's creative process.
While Webber refrained from naming the initiated team members, speculation points towards individuals transitioning from the Cyberpunk 2077 team, given its 2020 release. This timeline also fuels theories regarding The Witcher 4's potential skill tree, possibly mirroring the structure found in Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion.
