The Witcher 4 Entering Full Production ‘Very Soon’ [IGN]

August 28, 2024August 28, 2024 Ryan Dinsdale gaming

Medieval folk music intensifies.

Updated:

Aug 28, 2024 5:20 pm

Posted:

Aug 28, 2024 5:12 pm

The next mainline Witcher game, currently in development at CD Projekt under the codename Polaris, is entering full production “very soon.”

Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said during CD Projekt’s latest earnings call that, while the Polaris team has only grown from 407 members as of April 30, 2024 to 410 members as of July 31, 2024, its presence as the majority of overall staff members (410 of 639) means it’s in a good place to begin proper work on the new Witcher game.

“The Polaris team is maintaining the right scale to enter the production stage very soon,” Nowakowski said.

The Polaris team is maintaining the right scale to enter the production stage very soon.

When Polaris was announced in October 2022, CD Projekt said it wouldn’t be released until 2025 at the earliest. As time goes on, however, and next year grows closer and closer, it seems increasingly unlikely Polaris will be released in 2025.

Details are therefore still slim on the new game, but Geralt of Rivia voice actor Doug Cockle has revealed the White Wolf will star in Polaris, but not as the main character.

Developer CD Projekt has long made clear that Geralt’s saga has come to an end, meaning a new protagonist was fully expected for Polaris, but this was the first confirmation he’ll be in the next game at all — and fuels some rampant fan theories.

Polaris, aka The Witcher 4. CD Projekt confirmed that a new Witcher game that would mark the beginning of a new saga was in development in March 2022, and though it's not officially called The Witcher 4, this one can be thought of as the true next Witcher game.Later revealed to be codenamed Polaris, the new game won't be released until 2025 at the earliest as it only entered pre-production in May 2022. It's also being developed in Unreal Engine 5, a new endeavour for CD Projekt Red that's essentially requiring them to create everything from the ground-up and establish a new foundation for its games going forward. It will, however, be one of the next two games released by CD Projekt Red. (Image: CD Projekt Red)

Only a single teaser image has otherwise been revealed for Polaris, but it was enough to fuel fan theories, which suggest Ciri will be the next mainline Witcher game’s protagonist. What’s considered the “true” ending of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, thanks to its story being continued in comics considered canon to CD Projekt’s universe, sees her become a witcher herself.

The teaser image also showed a medallion of a lynx, and while this is a brand new witcher school not mentioned previously in the books, games, comics, or wherever else, Ciri wore a School of the Cat medallion in the books and its philosophy matches her nimble fighting style.

CD Projekt is plenty busy even outside of Polaris, of course, as it’s currently setting up a new studio in the U.S. to develop a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel codenamed Orion. Even in The Witcher universe, one of its subsidiary studios is developing a multiplayer game and partner studio Fool’s Theory is working on a remake of the original game.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.