It was over a year ago that CD Projekt RED announced that a new The Witcher entry is in development at the studio. Following that, it was revealed that an entirely new trilogy is being planned by the company, describing the project as a "story-driven open-world RPG built on the legacy of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt". Now, with 2024 on the horizon, its development has ramped up heavily.
The company"s latest earnings report reveals that almost half of the studio"s development force, about 330 staff, is now working on the next installment of The Witcher. CEO Adam Kiciński expects this number to balloon to 400 by mid-2024 as the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion team moves over. Unfortunately, a release window for the RPG project, dubbed Polaris, has not been revealed yet.
The mainline trilogy featuring Geralt of Rivia ended in 2015 with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The new trilogy should feature a new Witcher from another school, judging by the original teaser image showing off a medallion distinctly different from Geralt"s iconic one from the Wolf School.
CD Projekt RED is also transitioning to using Epic Games" Unreal Engine 5 for all its future projects, leaving behind the in-house built REDengine that has powered almost all its previous games. The studio"s upcoming projects include this fresh Witcher trilogy, a remake of the original The Witcher, as well as a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel now that its first and final expansion is out.
The studio is also still not done with the last Witcher game either. Almost 10 years after its launch, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is slated to receive official modding tools sometime next year. With CD Projekt now fully moving to Unreal Engine 5, It seems the studio wants to open up REDengine 3 for the community to tinker with as a final hurrah.