Many people know about The Witcher franchise from the Henry Cavill starrer Netflix show. But only the OG fans have been with it since the gaming and book days. Originally created by the maestro, Andrej Sapkowski, the book’s Netflix adaptation recently wrapped up its third season. The Witcher season 3 also left intriguing hooks for a fourth installment. However, the fourth installment of the Lauren Hissrich show is not all that fans are excited about. 

Fans are also anticipating the release of the fourth installment of The Witcher game, code-named Polaris. Recently, a fresh update from the studio, CD Projekt Red, suggested that the anticipated project is ramping up development. 

The Witcher game has a fresh update about the workforce involved in its development 

The Witcher game is a long-anticipated project that received confirmation from the developers in March 2022. Ever since its announcement, the studio CDPR has not been very vocal about its development process, let alone the release date. As per CDPR’s Q3 earning report, approximately 50% of the workforce of CDPR have collaborated in developing Polaris, as of October 31. And the numbers are growing even further, following the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. 

The CEO of CDPR, Adam Kiciński, shared that the number of the workforce for the development of the anticipated game is likely to add 400 more developers by mid-2024. This project is currently the primary focus of the video game developer. It is also known that this fourth installment of the game would be released on Unreal Engine 5, rather than CDPR’s proprietary RED engine where the previous installments were released. But when can fans exactly anticipate the release of The Witcher 4 now that the workforce is growing?

The Witcher 4 may have amped up their development, but it could still take years before it becomes available to the fandom. And here is why. 

Why will Polaris not release anytime soon?

CDPR confirmed that The Witcher 4 was in its research phase back in May this year. The workforce was divided between this new RPG series and the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion. The expansion of the workforce could only help the developers achieve their targeted release window, which is 2025, as per a 2022 update from CDPR. The reason for this could be attributed to the shift from CDPR’s Red Engine to Unreal Engine 5, which will require some adjusting. 

Adam Kiciński himself shared that the game was at least three years away, as reported by IGN last year. This will be the start of the second Witcher trilogy, reportedly released over a period of six years. The company is also working on a remake of 2007 The Witcher along with a multiplayer game set in The Witcher universe. Amidst so many exciting updates from CDPR, it will be exciting to see whether the weight of The Witcher fandom will lean more toward the games or the Netflix show. 

What do you think about the new update of The Witcher 4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!