Revision 14

Studio Overview

CD Projekt Red is a game development studio based in Warsaw, Poland. It is a subsidiary of CD Projekt and is best known for The Witcher video game series and Cyberpunk 2077. The studio was founded in 2002. Across all Witcher games, the franchise has sold over 85 million copies, with The Witcher 3 alone exceeding 60 million.

The Witcher IV team

As of 30 April 2026, 513 developers were assigned to The Witcher IV, and the company has described the project as being in the most intensive phase of its development. The Witcher IV team is the largest of the studio's project teams. The remainder of the workforce is spread across Cyberpunk 2 (codenamed Project Orion), Project Sirius, the Hadar IP, and central shared-services groups covering areas such as localization, quality assurance, data, and motion capture. About 100 Witcher 3 veterans remain at the studio.

The game has also received assistance from Fool's Theory, the studio developing The Witcher remake, which temporarily assigned a small team to help with shared assets and technology.

Hiring on the cinematics side continued through 2026. A cinematic animator who had worked on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 relocated from France to the Warsaw studio in February 2026, though the studio has not said which project she was assigned to, so her involvement in The Witcher IV should not be treated as confirmed.

Key Personnel

Lessons From Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 launched in December 2020 with severe technical issues, particularly on last-generation consoles. CDPR has been open about applying lessons learned to The Witcher IV.

Game director Sebastian Kalemba stated: "It's a continuation of the evolution, improvement, and transformation." Engineering director Colin Walder explained the studio's new approach to console development: "Take consoles, for example; we need to make sure they're functioning from the get-go. For our next project, Polaris, we're already running our demos and internal reviews on the console from the very beginning. This is a step we only took later in Cyberpunk's development."

On production methodology, Kalemba described "mindful definition of production stages and scoping," ensuring "whatever we create right now is super coherent across the board." When deadlines approach, the team now adjusts schedules rather than reverting to crunch.

AI Policy

CDPR has committed to not using generative AI for content creation. Joint CEO Michal Nowakowski stated: "Gen AI, to be honest, is quite tricky when it comes to legal IP ownership and so on, and many other aspects." On whether AI has reduced staffing: "I didn't recall a single time when it would be directly attributable to AI."

The studio does use AI for internal productivity tools but has drawn a clear line: "It's not a situation where AI could sit down and make games. It doesn't mean it's not gonna be useful, but AI is not going to be making The Witcher 5 or 6."

Development Timeline

2026 Updates

As of February 2026, the team working on The Witcher IV has grown to 499 developers, more than half of CD Projekt Red's total workforce of 933. This represents over 220 new hires since February 2025. A small team from Fool's Theory (the studio developing The Witcher 1 remake) was temporarily assigned to assist with shared assets and Unreal Engine 5 technology. By April 30, 2026, the team had grown to 513 developers.

In March 2026, NVIDIA and CDPR presented a new tech demo at GDC showing RTX Mega Geometry foliage technology.

Trilogy Plan

The Witcher IV is the first in a planned trilogy. CD Projekt has outlined a six-year plan for all three games, with each sequel taking roughly three years. CFO Piotr Nielubowicz confirmed the game "will not be released before 2027."

Previous Witcher Games

Production Process (May 2026 Update)

In May 2026 the studio publicly described a new internal production process for The Witcher IV in which every development stage ends with a gate that requires documentation to advance. Documents are shared across teams and across time zones rather than locked behind team permissions, so solutions developed for one project are visible to the other teams at the studio. CDPR has framed this as a process change introduced for The Witcher IV and the studio's other current major project.

Facilities and Internal Tooling

The Witcher IV team moved into a newly completed office building on CD Projekt's Warsaw campus in June 2025. The company was also fitting out a new performance capture studio, which it expected to finish during 2026, and it expanded its Boston office over the course of 2025.

Alongside the game itself, the studio has been building an internal toolset it refers to as the Cinematic Experience project: a set of tools that automates the creation of nonlinear quests, cutscenes, and animations for open-world productions. The work is part-financed through a European Union innovation programme. The studio's game analytics group separately built new engine usage reporting systems for The Witcher IV, intended to show where tools and services were slowing teams down so those areas could be optimised. Both efforts sit behind the scenes rather than in the shipped game, so their visible effect on quest design and cinematics is not yet something the studio has demonstrated publicly.