Nvidia Shows the Future of Graphics with The Witcher 4: 60 Million Plants and Advanced Ray Tracing in 4K

During GDC 2026, Nvidia showcased a spectacular technical demo based on The Witcher 4, highlighting the capabilities of the new RTX Mega Geometry technology. Although it was not actual gameplay, the demonstration provided an impressive insight into what the future of graphics in video games could look like.

The scene displayed, built using assets provided by CD Projekt RED, covers an area of approximately 5×5 kilometers and features an extraordinary level of detail. It contains a staggering 60 million plants and about one million trees, with over 200 different plant species. Some trees exceed 10 million polygons, representing an extremely high level of complexity for any modern graphics engine.

One of the most surprising aspects of the demo is the absence of loading or data streaming, despite the enormous amount of elements present in the scene. This is complemented by a lighting system entirely based on path tracing, ensuring realistic rendering of light and shadows.

What does this demo of The Witcher 4 suggest in terms of performance? From a performance standpoint, the demo achieves 4K at 80 frames per second, but with some important clarifications. The system used features a high-end GPU, the RTX 5090, and utilizes DLSS technology to upscale from 1440p to 4K resolution. This means that the displayed performance does not yet represent a standard accessible to most users.

In fact, on more common hardware like the RTX 4070, the same scene would run at approximately 58 FPS at 1440p, with upscaling from a lower resolution. This highlights how such results are still tied to high-end configurations. It's important to note that this demo does not reflect the final product of The Witcher 4. It is more of a technological test designed to showcase the capabilities of RTX Mega Geometry and advanced rendering techniques. Currently, the game is still in full development at CD Projekt RED, which has expanded its team to support the project. Although there is no official release date yet, some rumors indicate a possible launch towards the end of 2027.