In its latest earnings call, CD Projekt Red management has confirmed The Witcher 4 is one of the studio’s highest priorities, with more than 400 individual developers now working on the game. According to joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski, The Witcher 4 is currently the “most developed” project at the company, and is likely its next major release.
Full production has not begun yet, despite the size of the team currently working on the game, but this is expected to kick off by the second half of 2024. That means the game is still several years away, and a release date will not be forthcoming yet, but the progress remains notable.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt remains one of CD Projekt Red’s biggest and most acclaimed titles to date, and expectations for the sequel are incredibly high. The studio is aware of this pressure, and is working with a massive team to ensure the vision and scope of the game is clear before committing to full production. It’s also anxious to create a new Witcher game beyond the shadow of The Witcher 3.
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“When it comes to the risks of innovative elements – making a new game is always a creative risk, especially since we’re trying to push new boundaries and explore new fields; that’s something we haven’t actually done before,” Nowakowski said.
The development team is reportedly keen to ensure The Witcher 4 is not “The Witcher 3 in new clothing” but something that pushes the boundaries, takes risks, and builds off the franchise’s groundwork for a new, innovative sequel. To that end, there will be “new gameplay elements and new mechanics” in The Witcher 4, not seen in prior CD Projekt Red works.
For now, that’s about as much as CD Projekt Red is willing and able to share about The Witcher 4, which is currently in development under the codename Polaris.
In addition to this game, the studio is also working on a range of other projects, including a remake of the original Witcher, a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, and a new IP known only as Hadar. It’s also working with The Molasses Flood on a spin-off entry in the Witcher series. There’s much more to come on all of these projects in future.
