Within the walls of CD Projekt, work is underway on a slew of projects, including Polaris, the first game in the new Witcher trilogy. According to Reuters, the Polish studio intends to kick off the active development phase of Polaris by the end of 2024.
Adam Badowski, one of the two leaders of CD Projekt, shared this information with the publication. It’s worth noting that he, along with Michał Nowakowski, took the helm of the company after Adam Kiciński resigned as CEO on January 1, 2024.
Badowski revealed the following:
It is expected that around 400 people will be working on Polaris by mid-2024. While there is no release date for the project, analysts speculate that it may debut in 2026 or 2027.
The sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, codenamed Orion, is in the conceptual phase. By the end of the year, CD Projekt plans to allocate 80 people to work on the second installment. According to Nowakowski, the team considered the possibility of incorporating multiplayer elements into the title, but he did not delve into specifics.
CD Projekt has assembled a team to explore artificial intelligence and how this technology can be applied in game development. “We believe artificial intelligence can help improve certain game production processes, but it won’t replace humans,” shared Nowakowski.
CD Projekt will actively expand the staff of CDPR North America in Boston, responsible for the new Cyberpunk, while recruitment for Polish studios will remain at a “fairly low” level.
According to Badowski, the company has learned from the challenging launch of Cyberpunk 2077, and it now exercises better control over the development process. The leader is confident that CD Projekt will not encounter similar issues with future releases.
CD Projekt teams are also working on a remake of the first Witcher, a game set in a new universe codenamed Hadar, and a Witcher spin-off by The Molasses Flood.
