CD Projekt revealed plans to ramp up development significantly on the next installment in its Witcher franchise. Its next project, codenamed Polaris, will mark the start of a brand new Witcher trilogy. The company aims to begin production with a targeted team of 400 developers by mid-2024.
This announcement comes from CD Projekt"s joint CEO, Adam Badowski, who took the helm alongside Michal Nowakowski last year. According to the CEO (via Reuters), Polaris will continue the story of The Witcher universe, which has already seen over 75 million copies sold across previous games.
While a release date for the first "Polaris" game remains under wraps, analysts predict it won"t grace our screens until 2026 or 2027. This means a relatively quiet period for major releases from CD Projekt soon.
In case you are wondering, CD Projekt will be without a major new game release in the meantime. This comes after the troubled 2020 launch of Cyberpunk 2077, which faced numerous delays and bugs at launch. Since then, the developer has focused on transforming its development processes. It recently released the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update alongside the Phantom Liberty expansion.
The sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, called "Project Orion," is also in the early conceptual stages, according to Badowski. CD Projekt aims to have around 80 people assigned to Orion by the end of 2024. Interestingly, the CEO hinted at the possibility of implementing multiplayer elements in future titles, though specifics remain shrouded in secrecy.
He also addressed concerns about rising wage pressures, assuring that it"s stabilized and hiring within its Polish offices will be rather low. Meanwhile, the company"s North American studio will continue to expand.
In case you missed it, the studio went through a round of layoffs in July 2023. CDPR has announced that approximately 9% of its staff has been laid off. The move comes shortly after the studio laid off 29 employees in May.
Source: Reuters