The Witcher 4 has entered full-scale production, developer CD Projekt has announced.
As part of its latest financial results, the Polish company said that Project Polaris – the first instalment in the new Witcher trilogy – has now progressed from preproduction to full-scale production.
“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,” commented joint CEO Michał Nowakowski. “We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication.”
“I’m thrilled to announce that Project Polaris has entered the full-scale production phase,” game director Sebastian Kalemba tweeted. “With new challenges just around the corner, it’s the talented and hard-working people who make me believe we can together make the upcoming Witcher Saga a remarkable experience. No stopping now! Stay tuned for what’s on the other side of the coin!”
CD Projekt currently has 400 developers working on Polaris, the majority of its 650-person total development staff. That’s down from the 410 reported at the end of July. 64 are working on Orion, the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, 42 on Sirius, The Witcher game developed by The Molasses Flood, and 18 on Hadar, CD Projekt’s brand new IP. CD Projekt recently confirmed it has no plans for a PS5 Pro patch for Cyberpunk 2077, and based on its staffing for upcoming projects, you can see why.
When Polaris was announced in October 2022, CD Projekt said it wouldn’t be released until 2025 at the earliest. In August, Geralt of Rivia voice actor Doug Cockle revealed the White Wolf will star in Polaris, but not as the main character. CD Projekt had long made clear that Geralt’s saga had come to an end, meaning a new protagonist was fully expected for Polaris, but this was the first confirmation he’d be in the next game at all — and fueled some rampant fan theories.
Only a single teaser image, below, has otherwise been revealed for Polaris, but it was enough to suggest Ciri will be the protagonist this time around. What’s considered the “true” ending of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, thanks to its story being continued in comics considered canon to CD Projekt’s universe, sees her become a witcher herself.
The teaser image also showed a medallion of a lynx, and while this is a brand new witcher school not mentioned previously in the books, games, or comics, Ciri wore a School of the Cat medallion in the books and its philosophy matches her nimble fighting style.
The news comes as Cyberpunk 2077 hit an astonishing 30 million copies sold, with the Phantom Liberty expansion selling over eight million. CD Projekt pointed to “strong sales” of both as well as The Witcher 3 during its third quarter.
“In less than four years since release we’ve already sold 30 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077, and as for Phantom Liberty – in just over a year it has sold over eight million copies,” Nowakowski added. “These are impressive figures. I’m very happy to see a large, dedicated community coalesce around our Cyberpunk games. In the coming year the base game, along with its expansion, will be released to a new group of users: owners of Mac devices powered by Apple Silicon chips.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.