Nearly Half of CD Projekt Now Working on The Witcher 4

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Nearly half of CD Projekt Red is now working on The Witcher 4, codenamed Polaris, following the release of Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty.

Confirmation arrived during CD Projekt Red’s latest earnings report, which indicated almost 330 developers, or just under 50% of its development staff, were working on the highly anticipated sequel as of October 31, 2023. CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński also confirmed the company expects more than 400 developers will be working on Polaris by mid 2024.

The Polaris team had grown to 260 members as of July 31, 2023, more than a third of all of CD Projekt Red, but development on the game is ramping up following the release of Phantom Liberty.

The report also has more than 25% of developers listed as “in transfer” as they transition away from Phantom Liberty, and CD Projekt Red has said previously that many of those team members would join Polaris alongside Cyberpunk 2077 sequel codenamed Orion and other projects.

As for its development stage, CD Projekt Red hasn’t said anything since it confirmed Polaris had entered pre-production back in May 2022.

The development boost doesn’t mean another Witcher game is right around the corner, of course. CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciński said in October 2022 that Polaris is still three years away at least because, alongside creating a whole new game, the studio is also having to develop new technology within Unreal Engine 5 as well.

Polaris was only announced in March 2022, however, so three years couldl be on the earlier side of this assessment. Chief commercial officer Michał Nowakowski also said at the time that creating a new game alongside new technology like CD Projekt Red is doing with Polaris usually takes four or five years, though this won’t necessarily be the case this time.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.