Five different The Witcher games are in development, CD Projekt reveals
CD Projekt Red has unveiled its long-term product outlook, detailing its plans going forward for the next decade and beyond. Chiefly among those were an eyewatering 5 new games in The Witcher franchise, including a new trilogy of mainline releases. Additionally, two new The Witcher spin-offs - currently codenamed Project Sirius and Project Canis Majoris - have been announced to be in development by studios outside of the company.
Project Polaris - ostensibly, The Witcher 4 - is currently in pre-production, with over 150 of CD Projekt Red's staff currently involved. It's stated to be the first entry in a new The Witcher trilogy, but more interestingly is the claim that once Polaris itself releases, CD Projekt Red is aiming to deliver The Witcher 5 and 6 within 6 years of 4's release.
Project Sirius, the first of the 2 spinoffs announced, is being billed as "an innovative take on The Witcher universe telling an unforgettable story for existing Witcher fans and new audiences", and is currently in pre-production at CD Projekt's Boston studio, The Molasses Flood. As of right now, 60+ developers are involved with the project. Later during the presentation, it was confirmed that this title will include some form of multiplayer.
Perhaps most interestingly, Project Canis Majoris is planned to be a story-driven, single-player open-world RPG set within The Witcher universe. What seemingly sets it apart from being a mainline entry is its developers - as it has been contracted out to a currently unknown 3rd-party studio purportedly led by "ex-Witcher veterans". Details about the current status of the project, and how many developers are currently working on it, are as of yet unknown. One thing of note is that the game is planned to be developed on Unreal Engine 5.
Besides the follow-up timeframe stated for Witcher 5 and 6 following Witcher 4's eventual release, nothing has been stated about the release timeframe for any other of these releases. Naturally, release platforms have not yet been stated either - though it should be assumed that at least some of these games will end up targeting next-generation hardware. We're not talking about PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S here, but rather whatever the generation ends up looking like for the consoles afterward.
Additionally, CD Projekt confirmed later on in the presentation that the current-generation upgrade for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is still planned for this year; a finalized release date for said update has still yet to be revealed. We'll be sure to give you updates on further announcements for both this incoming update - as well as any new information for these announced projects - in the months and years to come.
This investor call was a big one for CD Projekt RED. In addition to all this Witcher news, the studio also confirmed plans for a full-blown sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, and the early development of an all-new IP, conceived entirely within the studio - a first for a company that has until now based its games on existing universes.