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 90 million copies, with The Witcher 3 alone exceeding 65 million (figures the company gave in September 2026).
The Witcher IV team
As of 31 July 2026, 519 developers were assigned to The Witcher IV (513 at the end of April), out of a company-wide development staff of 1,045, 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
Person | Role |
|---|---|
Game director, formerly CDPR's head of animation | |
Gosia Mitrega | Executive producer, joined CDPR in 2019 |
Story director on The Witcher IV; previously lead writer on Cyberpunk 2077 and its Phantom Liberty expansion | |
Marcin Blacha | Story director at the studio; a narrative lead on the earlier Witcher games |
Borys Pugacz-Muraszkiewicz | English adaptation director; wrote the lyrics for the reveal trailer track |
Kajetan Kapuscinski | Cinematic director, played the tech demo live at State of Unreal |
Doug Cockle | Voice of Geralt, confirmed to reprise his role |
Voice of Ciri, replacing Jo Wyatt from TW3 | |
Dorian Kieken | AI director, joined February 2026; responsible for the company's AI vision and strategy; previously eight years at BioWare and eight running his own AI company |
Felix Pedulla | Senior cinematic designer, joined from Larian Studios, where he was a senior cinematic artist on Baldur's Gate 3 |
Russell Brower | Sound director, joined January 2026; three-time Emmy winner, previously audio director at Blizzard Entertainment on World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, and Overwatch |
Alice Severova | Producer, joined in early 2026; previously produced Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and the Dune: Awakening MMO |
Arkadiusz Antonik | Engineering Director on The Witcher IV; joined the studio as an intern about thirteen years before taking the role, and led the adoption of Unreal Engine 5 and the build-up of the engineering team |
Przemek Czatrowski | One of the directors on The Witcher IV |
Miles Tost | Level Design Lead on The Witcher IV; a veteran of the previous Witcher game |
Mikołaj Mik | Producer on The Witcher IV; joined the studio as a summer intern in 2022 |
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." Colin Walder, the studio's Engineering Director for management and audio, 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." On the September 2026 earnings call Nowakowski repeated that the studio is still predominantly using people, treats AI as a tool that helps in places, and does not plan to rely on it to make complete games, adding that for games as complex as the studio’s he does not think that would be the right or ethical path.
Development Timeline
Item | Description |
|---|---|
March 2022 | New Witcher game announced with lynx medallion image |
October 2022 | "Project Polaris" codename and trilogy plan revealed |
May 2022 to Nov 2024 | Pre-production phase, team growing from 330 to 400+ |
November 2024 | Full production begins |
December 12, 2024 | Cinematic trailer revealed at The Game Awards |
June 3, 2025 | UE5 tech demo at State of Unreal |
Late 2025 | 447 developers on the project |
July 31, 2026 | 519 developers on the project (reported 2 September 2026) |
2028 (targeted) | Targeted release window, announced August 2026 |
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, and by July 31, 2026, to 519.
In March 2026, NVIDIA and CDPR presented a new tech demo at GDC showing RTX Mega Geometry foliage technology.
On 2 September 2026 the company published its first-half 2026 results: revenues of 435 million PLN (up 23 percent year on year), net profit of 249 million PLN (up 37 percent) and net profitability of 57 percent, with about 385 million PLN invested in development during the half, mainly on The Witcher IV, Cyberpunk 2 and the previous Witcher game’s 2027 expansion. The written results restated the 2028 target window for The Witcher IV and described a plan for one large Witcher release each year until then. The first of those, the remaster of the previous game, launched on 29 September 2026. CFO Piotr Nielubowicz also said that, given the current release schedule, the group will most likely not meet the second-stage earnings condition of its Incentive Program B for 2024 to 2027.
In a September 2026 podcast interview Nowakowski said the switch from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5 was not a consequence of Cyberpunk 2077’s launch, because "the issue with Cyberpunk was not really REDengine itself," and that the company’s dream "was actually never to make technology." The incentive to change engines came when Epic showed its The Matrix Awakens demonstration of Unreal Engine 5.
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 initially said the game "will not be released before 2027." In August 2026, joint CEO Michal Nowakowski narrowed that to a target, saying "The Witcher 4 is targeting a 2028 release window" and that the studio was "not ready to share an exact date." The company restated the 2028 window in writing with its first-half results on 2 September 2026.
Previous Witcher Games
Item | Description |
|---|---|
The Witcher (2007) | PC exclusive. Used a modified BioWare Aurora Engine. Approximately 10 million lifetime sales |
The Witcher 2 | Assassins of Kings (2011): PC and Xbox 360. First game on REDengine. About 15 million lifetime sales |
The Witcher 3 | Wild Hunt (2015): PC, PS4, Xbox One (later PS5, Xbox Series X|S). Over 60 million copies sold. Won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2015 |
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.