The fantasy action role-playing game series titled The Witcher was created by CD Projekt Red and released by CD Projekt. The series serves as non-canonical sequels to the plot of the books and is based on the book series of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
A monster hunter named Geralt of Rivia is the focus of the series, which follows him on his exploits in a magical, politically charged, and dangerously magical world. In the games, objectives must be completed, and foes must be defeated, the gameplay mostly concentrates on exploration, combat, and decision-making. The games are set in a somewhat open world and are depicted in a third-person perspective.
The Witcher, which was released in 2007, marked the start of the main series. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt came in 2015 and was the last game in the series. There are two expansion packs, seven spin-off games, and three major standalone games in the series as of 2022. By March 2023, the critically acclaimed and profitable series had sold over 75 million units.
Half of CDPR working on The Witcher 4
Following the Witcher series, the company turned its attention to Cyberpunk 2077, a brand-new IP. Although performance problems and game-breaking bugs greeted the game’s first release with disapproval, Cyberpunk has found renewed popularity among players.
With more players and positive feedback for the recently released DLC, Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt has successfully revived the game. Taking this into consideration, the company has officially started working on the next Witcher game.
The Witcher 4, also known as Polaris, is now CD Projekt Red’s largest project, and it appears that about half of the studio’s developers are focusing on the highly anticipated role-playing game.
According to the latest CDPR’s earnings report, more than 300 developers are working on The Witcher 4, which is almost half of the company’s staff.
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Piotr Nielubowicz, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, stated in the Q3 2023 earnings report, “Regarding production tasks, the largest part of our dev team is currently working on Polaris, the first installment of the new Witcher game trilogy”.
The next Witcher RPG is currently under development, with some 300 people working on it, according to CDPR’s Q3 report, reported by IGN. “The team is steadily growing, having reached almost 330 developers at the end of last month,” CEO Adam Kiciński stated in an earnings call. It is also anticipated to increase to more than 400 by the middle of next year.
When did the development of The Witcher 4 begin?
On October 4, 2022, CDPR released an update on The Witcher 4. The Witcher Polaris served as the internal codename for the upcoming game, according to the news.
Preproduction on the upcoming installment of the series, which CDPR confirmed will mark the “beginning of a new saga,” is well underway. A new AAA RPG trilogy will be created by releasing two more Witcher titles following Polaris, the studio added.
It is also known that Unreal Engine 5, as opposed to CDPR’s exclusive RED engine, which was utilized for The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077, will power The Witcher Polaris.
Furthermore, back in May 2023, CDPR announced that The Witcher 4’s research phase was over. The studio was then dividing its efforts between pre-production for this new role-playing game series and the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion.