Manufacturing on the upcoming RPG The Witcher 4 has picked up considerably since we final heard about it. CD Projekt Purple confirmed as a part of its earnings report that the the workforce behind the sport, codenamed Polaris, has grown to 403 staffers, or about two-thirds of the studio. It’s now the one largest venture being labored on by CD Projekt Purple in the intervening time, and is at the moment in pre-production.
Final we heard about The Witcher 4 again in January, manufacturing was choosing up following the discharge of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty within the fall of 2023. On the time, CD Projekt Purple’s co-CEO Adam Bodowski had acknowledged the studio’s intention was to have roughly 400 folks engaged on the sport by the center of 2024 so as to have the ability to launch into full-time manufacturing on the title within the again half of the 12 months. Not solely is the studio there, however forward of schedule too. Solution to name your shot, Badowski.
On the time, the studio was additionally investigating the opportunity of utilizing AI, which has dominated conversations round video games growth the previous 12 months. Whereas there was little in the way in which of an replace, a developer at CD Projekt Purple did converse to Aftermath just lately, saying that “in relation to writing and voice appearing, there’s only a gigantic, actually lengthy technique to go.”
The Witcher 4, in addition to the trilogy of video games it is going to kick off, have been introduced in late 2022, alongside a slew of different titles. These included a remake of the unique Witcher, one other Witcher sport from the Flame within the Flood developer The Molasses Flood, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, a Cyberpunk sequel, and a model new IP referred to as Venture Hadar. The trilogy of video games that kicks off with Witcher 4 are set to be delivered inside a six-year interval, which feels unbelievable given the time wanted for AAA productions of this scale lately. Particularly contemplating CDPR’s historical past of crunch, in addition to its latest guarantees that there gained’t be any on forthcoming titles, I merely don’t see how it may be achieved, however I’ll be comfortable to be confirmed fallacious.
Although manufacturing on The Witcher 4 looks as if it’s choosing up in keeping with schedule, different titles in CDPR’s pipeline haven’t been so fortunate. Simply final 12 months, the Molasses Flood spinoff multiplayer title suffered various setbacks, together with a reboot that resulted in a spherical of layoffs. CDPR’s earnings report states that this sport can be in pre-production. Regardless of the excellent news on The Witcher 4’s manufacturing, we shouldn’t count on to see something from it for a lengthy whereas.