CD Projekt has confirmed development is in full swing on The Witcher 4, over two years after it was originally announced.
While we’ve known about the existence of The Witcher 4 for over two years, following a logo reveal in 2022, the next instalment in the series is still shrouded in mystery.
Technically, it’s still unknown if it will be called ‘The Witcher 4’, with developer CD Projekt referring to it by the codename Polaris. What we do know is it will be the first game in a new trilogy, and will involve original protagonist Geralt in some capacity – but not necessarily as the lead.
After previously stating full production on Polaris would kick off in the second half of 2024, CD Projekt has now officially confirmed the move.
In a statement alongside the studio’s Q3 2024 financial report, CD Projekt CEO Michal Nowakowski said: ‘I’m proud to confirm that several weeks ago the Polaris team wrapped up preproduction and moved on to full-scale production – the most intensive phase of development.
‘We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication.’
In a separate video, CD Projekt’s chief financial officer, Piotr Nielubowicz, confirmed Polaris is ‘currently the most far along’ of all the projects at the studio – although it’s still unclear when it will actually come out.
This is a surprise, as it was thought that the remake of the original The Witcher game would be the next game to be released. Although that’s being made by external studio Fool’s Theory, so it seems likely CD Projekt is not counting that and it’ll still be out first.
Along with Polaris, CD Projekt is working on a new IP codenamed Project Hadar, a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 codenamed Project Orion, and a new game set in the Witcher universe titled Project Sirius.
Elsewhere in its financials, the studio announced Cyberpunk 2077 has surpassed 30 million copies sold worldwide, a jump of five million from October last year. The game’s expansion, Phantom Liberty, meanwhile has sold eight million copies since it launched in September 2023.
CD Projekt also gave some updates on other Cyberpunk projects outside of games.
After Netflix teased another collaboration earlier this year, the studio officially announced it has teamed up with the streaming service for ‘another animation project set in the Cyberpunk universe’ following the excellent Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
It’s unclear, however, if it will be animated by Studio Trigger, who worked on the 2022 series.
The studio also described a live action Cyberpunk project, which was announced in October last year, as still being in the ‘conceptual stage’.
Speaking about the project, Nowakowski added: ‘The conceptual stage has various stages of advancement, so we’re for sure further in than we were a year ago, but we’re also not yet at the stage where we would be shopping around the concept to potential streamers or studios.
‘I’d say it’s probably a similar window between here and now as was between when we announced it about a year ago and today, so within that window I would expect we’re going to get to shopping [it] around.’
It’s still unclear whether the project is a movie or TV series, but it sounds like we’ll have a while to wait to find out, if it ever does come to fruition.
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