CD Projekt had some news to share for fans of The Witcher franchise today during its latest financial report release. It revealed that the next game in the franchise is now in full production, kicking off the development of the upcoming trilogy of RPG experiences.
"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," says CD Projekt RED joint CEO Michał Nowakowski. "We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication."
As for what exactly that means, the CEO explained that the targets and plans set in pre-production will now be filled in during the full development phase, "It"s a super oversimplification of course, but this is really what entering the production phase means," he adds. "We have a big chunk of game made that proves certain concepts, and now we can populate the whole game per plan."
The series" new director, Sebastian Kalemba, shared the news 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… pic.twitter.com/2pJdsg2sWX
— Sebastian Kalemba (@Skalemba) November 26, 2024
The company gave an update on how its developer numbers are split across its projects too. First off, the new trilogy currently has 400 staff attached to it, which may go up later as production ramps up.
Next, 64 developers are working on Project Orion, the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel that is being worked on by the CD Projekt RED North America wing. Next, The Molasses Flood-developed The Witcher spin-off has 42 staff attached to it, while 18 members are working on a mysterious new IP codenamed Hadar.
The company also announced today that Cyberpunk 2077 has now sold over 30 million copies in under four years, while its expansion is now at eight million copies sold.