The Witcher 4 – AKA Project Polaris AKA “the first instalment in the new Witcher saga”, as it continues to be referred to in lieu of a publicly announced name – is another step closer to release, with CD Projekt confirming its development has shifted to “full-scale production”.
“I’m proud to confirm that several weeks ago the Polaris team wrapped up preproduction and moved on to full-scale production – the most intensive phase of development,” CD Projekt’s joint CEO Michał Nowakowski wrote in a statement accompanying its Q3 2024 earnings report. “We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication.”
Nowakowski’s update follows a progress report in August, which anticipated Project Polaris’ full production phase would start “soon”, and today’s milestone news was also celebrated on social media by Project Polaris game director Sebastian Kalemba. “With new challenges just around the corner,” he wrote, “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!”
It has, of course, been a little over two and half years since CD Projekt revealed development on the next game in The Witcher series had begun, but the project still remains a bit of an enigma. About all we know so far, beyond whatever speculation can be eked out of the single bit of tantalising promo art shared alongside Polaris’ announcement, is that it “won’t focus” on Geralt of Rivia. That bit of news was shared by Geralt actor Doug Cockle earlier this year, although he did at least confirm the character would be a “part of” the new game.
Alongside CD Projekt’s Witcher news, the studio has provided updated sales figures for some of its older titles, confirming Cypberpunk 2077 has now surpassed 30m copies sold. That’s 5m more than the company had shifted in last October, with the well-recieved Phantom Liberty expansion also selling a further 5m copies – bringing its total sales up to 8m – in the same timeframe. “These are impressive figures,” Nowakowski said of the new milestone. “I’m very happy to see a large, dedicated community coalesce around our Cyberpunk games.”
Additionally, CD Projekt has reiterated, as per a tease in September, it’ll be following the success of 2022’s acclaimed Cyberpunk: Edgerunners with a brand-new Netflix animated series set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, although no further information has been revealed.
CD Projekt previously announced Cyberpunk 2077 is launching for Mac next year, but one thing the game won’t be getting is any kind of update for PS5 Pro.
