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11 Overview
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33 The Witcher IV has been in development at CD Projekt Red since 2022, with the project going through distinct pre-production and full production phases. The game is being developed on Unreal Engine 5 and is not expected to release before 2027.
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66 Timeline
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88 DateMilestoneMarch 2022CD Projekt Red announces a new Witcher game is in development, accompanied by an image of a lynx-shaped medallion half-buried in snow. The studio confirms it will use Unreal Engine 5.October 2022The project is revealed as "Project Polaris" and confirmed as the first installment of a new Witcher trilogy (with sequels codenamed internally).May 2022 to November 2024Pre-production phase. The team grows from approximately 330 to over 400 developers during this period.November 2024Full production begins. The project transitions from concept and prototype work to building the final game.December 12, 2024Official reveal at The Game Awards with a nearly six-minute cinematic trailer. Ciri confirmed as the protagonist. Ciara Berkeley revealed as the new voice of Ciri.March 2024Reporting on the previous year, CD Projekt states the team has passed 400 developers, reaching the size it had targeted for entering production, with roughly 50 more staff from central shared-services teams supporting the project. Production is scheduled to begin in the second half of the year.February 2025411 developers assigned to The Witcher IV.June 3, 2025CD Projekt Red and Epic Games present a 14-minute Unreal Engine 5 tech demo at the State of Unreal 2025. The demo runs on a base PlayStation 5 at 60 FPS with ray tracing.June 2025The Witcher IV team moves into a newly completed office building on CD Projekt's Warsaw campus.July 2025Team grows to 444 developers.September 2025Andrzej Sapkowski publishes "Crossroads of Ravens," a new prequel novel in the Witcher book series. CDPR confirms the game incorporates elements from the novel.October 2025Approximately 450 developers on the project.February 2026Team reaches 499 developers, more than half of CDPR's total 933.March 2026NVIDIA and CDPR present a GDC tech demo showing RTX Mega Geometry foliage technology. The AnsweRED Podcast reveals new gameplay details including the jump button, underwater swimming, and spellcasting while moving.April 2026The team grows to 513 developers, more than twice the size of the roughly 240-person team that built the studio's 2015 release.May 2026Reporting first-quarter results, CD Projekt describes The Witcher IV as being in the most intensive phase of its development, with the team at 513 developers, and declines again to comment on a release date.2027 or laterEarliest confirmed release window. CFO Piotr Nielubowicz stated the game will not be released before 2027.
99 Production Approach
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1111 CDPR adopted a console-first development approach for The Witcher IV, running demos and internal reviews on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S from the earliest stages. This is a direct response to the troubled launch of Cyberpunk 2077, which shipped with severe performance issues on last-generation consoles.
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1313 Game director Sebastian Kalemba described the production methodology as featuring "mindful definition of production stages and scoping," ensuring that content is coherent across the board at every stage of development.