CD Projekt Red gave major updates on both The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel in an interview.
CD Projekt Red retains a lot of goodwill, but it’s in an awkward position with its next game. The disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 still haunts the company, while internal strife with remaining staff and direct competition from former developers have kept the studio in the news cycle for less-than-positive reasons. Possibly because of that, the Polish studio is giving itself ample time to develop its next release, The Witcher 4.
CD Projekt Red’s co-CEO, Adam Badowski, believes that the company can “avoid a premiere” like the one it faced with Cyberpunk 2077. It’s looking to make a big splash with its next game, which means both The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel are a long way away.
How far into development is The Witcher 4?
The Witcher 4 is entering the production phase in 2024 and will have over 400 people working on the project.
The Witcher 4 is CD Projekt Red’s first time utilizing Unreal Engine 5, with its previous games running on its proprietary REDengine. With this change from REDengine to UE5, CD Projekt Red is entering a new world. Cyberpunk 2077 director Gabe Amatangelo confirms that CD Projekt Red will work closely with Epic Games to port REDengine’s features over, with some updates and tweaks that will make them functional for the development of The Witcher 4.
CD Projekt Red says it expects the production phase for Witcher 4 to start in the middle of 2024. The extra time and support from Epic Games will hopefully lower the chances of a rough launch like the one seen for Cyberpunk 2077. Unfortunately, it means the studio won’t have any new games launching anytime soon. With the new information, analysts speculate that The Witcher 4 won’t come out until 2026 at the earliest.
Will Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel have multiplayer?
CD Projekt Red stated that it is considering multiplayer elements for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, but did not provide any details beyond that.
Co-CEO of CD Projekt Red Michal Nowakowski has confirmed that the development team is considering the implementation of multiplayer for Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel. Badowski also confirmed that Project Orion was firmly in the conceptual phase when speaking with Reuters.
Cyberpunk 2077 narrative director Igor Sarzynski corroborates the claim with a post on social media in early January 2024. With things so early in development, nothing is set in stone. Cyberpunk 2077 famously had its conceptual phase linger deep into development until just months before it was released. CDPR will ideally not have that be the case with its successor.