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The finish line is looking closer than ever for The Witcher 4 team at CD Projekt Red, as the highly-anticipated title has officially entered full-scale production. The Polish studio announced the update during its Q3 quarterly earnings presentation, confirming Project Polaris — which will mark the start of a second trilogy — has moved on from the pre-production phase.
“I’m proud to confirm that several weeks ago the Polaris team wrapped up pre-production and moved on to full-scale production – the most intensive phase of development,” said chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz. “We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication.”
In light of the news, game director Sebastian Kalmeba also shared the excitement on social media. “I’m thrilled to announce that Project Polaris has entered the full-scale production phase! With new challenges just around the corner, it’s the talented and hard-working people who make me believe we can together make the upcoming Witcher Saga a remarkable experience. No stopping now! Stay tuned for what’s on the other side of the coin!” reads his post on X/Twitter.
As of this April, over 400 developers were working on the upcoming title, with the rest of the staff split between other ongoing projects, including a Witcher spin-off developed by The Molasses Flood, a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel codenamed Orion, and Hadar, an entirely new IP. A remake of the first Witcher game is also currently in the works.
While story details about Polaris remain sparse, fans can expect Geralt of Rivia to return in some capacity. Voice actor Doug Cockle previously teased that the White Wolf “will be part of the game”, but won’t star as the main character. A single teaser image is the only hint for now, featuring a medallion of a lynx that resembles Ciri’s School of the Cat medallion, suggesting a possible protagonist shift to her instead.
Alongside the update, CD Project Red also announced a 30 million sales milestone for Cyberpunk 2077, with the Phantom Liberty expansion selling over eight million. “In less than four years since release we’ve already sold 30 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077, and as for Phantom Liberty – in just over a year it has sold over eight million copies,” added Nowakowski.
“These are impressive figures. I’m very happy to see a large, dedicated community coalesce around our Cyberpunk games. In the coming year the base game, along with its expansion, will be released to a new group of users: owners of Mac devices powered by Apple Silicon chips.”
There’s currently no release window for Project Polaris / The Witcher 4 and all other ongoing projects.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
