Witcher 4 Is Not "Witcher 3 In New Clothing," Dev Says

The Witcher 4 kicks off a new trilogy and is one of CD Projekt Red's most-anticipated upcoming games. There is still a lot we don't know about it, but CD Projekt has now shed some light at a high level in terms of what to expect.

As part of CD Projekt's latest earnings briefing, joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski said The Witcher 4 is not going to be "The Witcher 3 in new clothing." It aims to break new ground and stand apart from the games that came before it.

"When it comes to the risks of innovative elements--making a new game is always a creative risk, especially since we're trying to push new boundaries and explore new fields; that's something we haven't actually done before. This is a pretty broad paintbrush stroke, for sure, but I cannot go into too much detail without actually talking about the game per se," he said. "I guess what I'm saying is that you should not be expecting 'The Witcher 3 in new clothing' of sorts."

Naturally, The Witcher 4 builds off The Witcher 3 and other games that came before it. But Nowakowski said The Witcher 4 will add "new gameplay elements and new mechanics that you have not see in our previous games."

"I'd say doing such things is always a risk; it's not just repeating what was done before," he said.

The executive was also asked to provide specifics on when The Witcher 4 might release. He would not comment on this, however, because "revealing release dates is part of the marketing plan, and that's not something we're willing to do here." Management previously indicated, back in 2022, that The Witcher 4 would be released in 2025 at the very soonest.

He would, however, say that The Witcher 4 is CD Projekt's "most developed" project at this time, meaning it's the furthest along in its development. It remains in pre-production, but full production is expected to begin in the second half of 2024. More than 400 people are now working on The Witcher 4, which is in development under the codename Polaris.

CD Projekt has a number of upcoming games in the works beyond The Witcher 4. It's also developing a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, a remake of the original Witcher, a new IP in the works under the codename Hadar, and a new Witcher title from The Molasses Flood.