The Witcher 4 will ship in a box even if there is no disc inside it. CD Projekt joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski said so in an interview with The Game Business published on 28 August. The game is planned for 2028, by which point PlayStation intends to stop manufacturing discs, and the studio has no say in that.
What CD Projekt actually said
Nowakowski drew a clear line between what the studio controls and what it does not. Console discs are pressed by the platform holders in their own factories, so if Sony stops production, there simply will not be a disc version on PlayStation.
We are big fans of people having access to tangible collectible things. We are nerds ourselves, and we like that. We always supported that. So, whatever is the case, we are going to be for sure having a box. We are going to have a box that is going to have some feelies in it. Something you are going to be wanting to open up and enjoy.
Michał Nowakowski, joint-CEO of CD Projekt, to The Game BusinessCareful and honest at the same time: the box is promised, the disc is not. The publication says the full interview arrives next week.
Why a box is not a small thing for this company
It is worth remembering how CD Projekt started, and this is not a figure of speech. According to the company's own history page, Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński began by ordering a batch of discs and selling them at a market in Warsaw.
- 1994. CDP.pl is founded, then simply called CD Projekt. Its business was importing CD-ROM releases from the United States.
- 1996. It became the first Polish distributor to publish games in Polish boxes with Polish manuals. Obvious today, a novelty then.
- 1999. The first full Polish localisation, Baldur's Gate, voiced by well known actors including Krzysztof Kowalewski and Piotr Fronczewski.
So the studio now promising a box without a disc literally grew out of selling discs and out of those very boxes with printed manuals. That explains both the stubbornness and the reputation: Witcher editions have traditionally been stuffed with cloth maps, stickers and other things that have nothing to do with the software.
What it means for the buyer
If Sony really does wind down disc production by 2028, the boxed edition of The Witcher 4 on PlayStation will most likely become a set of physical objects with an activation code inside. Formally a collector's edition, in practice a box with no disc.
On PC nothing changes: discs disappeared there long ago and editions already sell as boxes full of trinkets. What happens on Xbox and Switch, Nowakowski did not say.
And one question the interview did not touch, though it hangs over the whole industry: a box without a disc cannot be resold. A disc could be handed to a friend or traded in, an activation code is tied to an account. The collector value survives, the consumer value does not.
Sources
Statement and quote: The Game Business, Gamescom edition of 28 August 2026, interview with Michał Nowakowski.
Company history: the official history section on the CD PROJEKT website.
