Production on the upcoming RPG The Witcher 4 has picked up significantly since we last heard about it. CD Projekt Red confirmed as part of its earnings report that the the team behind the game, codenamed Polaris, has grown to 403 staffers, or about two-thirds of the studio. It’s now the single biggest project being worked on by CD Projekt Red at the moment, and is currently in pre-production.
Last we heard about The Witcher 4 back in January, production was picking up following the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty in the fall of 2023. At the time, CD Projekt Red’s co-CEO Adam Bodowski had stated the studio’s intention was to have roughly 400 people working on the game by the middle of 2024 in order to be able to launch into full-time production on the title in the back half of the year. Not only is the studio there, but ahead of schedule too. Way to call your shot, Badowski.
At the time, the studio was also investigating the possibility of using AI, which has dominated conversations around games development the past year. While there was little in the way of an update, a developer at CD Projekt Red did speak to Aftermath recently, saying that “when it comes to writing and voice acting, there’s just a gigantic, really long way to go.”
The Witcher 4, as well as the trilogy of games it will kick off, were announced in late 2022, alongside a slew of other titles. Those included a remake of the original Witcher, another Witcher game from the Flame in the Flood developer The Molasses Flood, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, a Cyberpunk sequel, and a brand new IP called Project Hadar. The trilogy of games that kicks off with Witcher 4 are set to be delivered within a six-year period, which feels unbelievable given the time needed for AAA productions of this scale these days. Especially considering CDPR’s history of crunch, as well as its recent promises that there won’t be any on forthcoming titles, I simply don’t see how it can be accomplished, but I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.
Though production on The Witcher 4 seems like it’s picking up according to schedule, other titles in CDPR’s pipeline have not been so lucky. Just last year, the Molasses Flood spinoff multiplayer title suffered a number of setbacks, including a reboot that resulted in a round of layoffs. CDPR’s earnings report states that this game is also in pre-production. Despite the good news on The Witcher 4’s production, we shouldn’t expect to see anything from it for a long while.
