With the bulk of Cyberpunk 2077 finished, CD Projekt has now shuffled its priorities, putting the bulk of its resources into developing the next mainline The Witcher game, codenamed Polaris.
During an earning call to discuss the 2023 fiscal year, CD Projekt revealed that it is dedicating a bulk of its efforts to developing the next installment in its widely popular fantasy-themed RPG series.
As you can see from the screenshot below, CD Projekt was fully transparent with investors and those listening in on the call, showing exactly how many developers are being allocated to its current and future projects. The chart reveals that it has over 600 developers at the studios, over 400 of whom are assigned Polaris development.
Also interesting to note is that the next installment in the Cyberpunk franchise, codenamed Orion, has 47 developers currently assigned to the project. CD Projekt also revealed that Orion is in the concept stage of its development. The company previously revealed that its new studio, based in Boston, Massachusetts, has been assigned to work on the project.
This is not the first time CD Projekt has disclosed that a good portion of its employees are working on the next The Witcher game. In late November, during the Q3 2023 earnings report, CD Projekt revealed that almost 330 developers (nearly 50% of its staff) were tasked with developing the project.
With today's announcement, some quick math shows that number is now over half of the development team; about 64% of its staff are working on The Witcher 4 development. That increase in developers is likely due to a "big part" of the Cyberpunk 2077 team moving over to work on The Witcher 4.
CD Projekt confirmed that a new The Witcher game was in development back in 2022. While details on the next entry are slim, we do know that it will run on Unreal Engine 5. CD Projekt Red game director Sebastian Kalemba said in an interview last December with Lega Nerd that the goal of the next entry is to "build something that goes beyond the previous The Witcher and that manages to tell something more intense, with also more intense gameplay."
Though, don't expect The Witcher 4 anytime soon, CD Projekt Red studio president and co-CEO Adam Kiciński said in 2022 that the project was at least three years away. This means that it could come out as early as next year. It is worth noting today's earnings call also disclosed that Polaris's project stage is "pre-production."
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
