The Witcher 4 has begun full-scale production, CD Projekt confirms

The fourth Witcher game, codenamed Project Polaris, has entered full-scale production, developer CD Projekt Red announced on Tuesday as it reported its third-quarter financial results for 2024. The studio said it had completed pre-production on the game, planned to be the first installment in a new The Witcher trilogy. The Polish game maker also revealed that Cyberpunk 2077, the action RPG launched in 2020, had sold more than 30 million copies and continued to show strong sales in the last quarter.

The Witcher 4 goes into production

“I am proud to confirm that a few weeks ago the Polaris team completed pre-production and moved to full production – the most intensive phase of development,” said Michał Nowakowski, Joint CEO of CD Projekt, in a statement on the company’s financial results in the third quarter of 2024. “We are very pleased with our progress on this project and I would like to thank the team for their dedication.”

In a post on X, Nowakowski congratulated the Witcher team on reaching the milestone. “I’m proud to see how you’ve progressed over time. Entering the production phase of Polaris is an important step on our path to realizing the game and our long-term strategic objectives,” he said.

Witcher game director Sebastian Kalemba also confirmed development on X, saying he believed the new The Witcher trilogy could be a “remarkable experience.”

Cyberpunk 2077 sells 30 million copies

CD Projekt also announced that Cyberpunk 2077 had surpassed 30 million copies sold, while the Phantom Liberty expansion, released in 2023 and starring actor Idris Elba, had sold more than eight million copies.

“These are impressive figures. I’m very happy to see a large, dedicated community uniting around our Cyberpunk games,” said Nowakowski. “Over the next year, the base game, along with its expansion, will be released for a new group of users: owners of Mac devices powered by Apple Silicon chips.”

Based on strong sales for Cyberpunk 2077, the Phantom Liberty expansion and Witcher 3, the studio posted revenues of PLN 228 million (approximately $55.5 million or Rs. 468.7 crore) in the third quarter of 2024.

Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion launched in 2023
Photo credit: CD Projekt Red

The Witcher 4 details

Project Polaris was first announced in March 2022; CD Projekt confirmed at the time that the game would be built in Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5. Later that year, the company revealed that Project Polaris would be the start of a new Witcher saga – the first part of a new trilogy. The developer aims to release all three games within a period of six years after the launch of The Witcher 4.

While details about The Witcher 4 are scarce, it is confirmed to be a story-driven open-world RPG “built on the legacy of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.” The studio has not yet confirmed a release timeline for the game, but it will likely be years before the game launches.

In August, Doug Cockle, the voice actor of Geralt of Rivia, the protagonist of the first three games, claimed that the character would appear in The Witcher 4, but not in a central role. “What we know is 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 won’t be about him this time,” Cockle had said in an interview at the time.