The Witcher 4″ Set for Full Production: What to Expect

CD Projekt Red has announced that “The Witcher 4,” codenamed Project Polaris, will soon transition from pre-production to full-fledged production.

In its latest earnings statement for the first half of the financial year 2024, the studio revealed that the development team is close to a significant milestone that will mark the end of pre-production for the much-anticipated game. First announced in 2022, “The Witcher 4” is set to be the initial instalment in a new trilogy of “The Witcher” games.

Michał Nowakowski, joint CEO of CD Projekt Red, stated, “Work on Polaris is progressing—its development team is nearing a major milestone that will mark the end of the preproduction phase.” He also mentioned that the studio is preparing for Project Orion, another game set in the Cyberpunk universe.

Project Polaris was first introduced in March 2022, and Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5 was confirmed as the game’s platform. Later, the studio outlined plans for the new Witcher saga, aiming to release all three games in the trilogy within six years of The Witcher 4’s launch.

As for the game itself, “The Witcher 4” will continue as a story-driven open-world RPG, building on the legacy of “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.” Beyond the trilogy, CD Projekt is also developing two additional Witcher titles: Project Sirius, focusing on multiplayer, and “Canis Majoris,” a full Unreal Engine 5 remake of the original “The Witcher” game.

In November 2023, CD Projekt Red reported that nearly half of its studio, encompassing over 300 developers, was dedicated to working on “The Witcher 4.” However, the studio has not announced a specific release timeline for the game.

Additionally, Doug Cockle, the voice actor for Geralt of Rivia, mentioned in a recent interview that while Geralt will appear in “The Witcher 4,” he will not play a central role. “The Witcher 4 has been announced. I can’t say anything about it,” said Cockle. “We know that Geralt will be part of the game; we just don’t know how much. And the game won’t focus on Geralt, so it’s not about him this time.”