In March 2022,
CD Projekt Red (CDPR) announced that they were working on a new game in
The Witcher series. By October, the studio revealed that this entry, internally codenamed "Project Polaris", would initiate a new trilogy. Following the release of
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), CDPR made structural changes to its production process, aimed at refining development phases and fostering cohesive designs for future projects, including the new
Witcher game. It remained in pre-production from May 2022 until November 2024, when full production began. As of March 2026, 499 employees were working on the project.
CD Projekt temporarily assigned a small team from Fool's Theory, the developer of
The Witcher (2007)
remake, to assist CDPR with
The Witcher IV due to shared assets and technology. Polish analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski claimed that the
The Witcher IVs development will cost $390 million with another $390 million spent on marketing, making it
one of the most expensive video games to develop. The developers aim to maintain established canon, ensuring player choices in
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) do not create contradictions. Recognizing potential player unfamiliarity with previous titles, CDPR intends
The Witcher IV to serve as both an accessible entry point and a continuation for veteran players. CDPR's franchise and lore designer, Cian Maher, stated that "The Witcher as a title refers to both Geralt and Ciri and always has", arguing that Ciri was "more important" to the plot than Geralt. Unlike Geralt, a seasoned monster hunter throughout the series, Ciri in
The Witcher IV is depicted as an aspiring hunter who is "about to form her own codex on her own terms". Looking ahead, CD Projekt Red knew they would be creating future trilogy focused on Ciri so needed a younger actress to portray Ciri who had "a certain agility when recording the character in
motion capture" according to Sebastian Kalemba. Casting the new Ciri took over twelve months, looking at hundreds of actresses.
Technology Graphics CD Projekt Red is developing
The Witcher IV with a "console-first" approach, breaking with their traditional approach of targeting PC first before scaling down to consoles. CD Projekt Red said they wanted to avoid the same issues with
Cyberpunk 2077 that had been developed with PC in mind first as it suffered from serious performance issues at launch on
Xbox One and
PlayStation 4 consoles. With
The Witcher IV, CDPR vice president Jakub Knapik explained that "it's easier to scale up than down" after the studio had been able to set a visual and technical foundation on weaker consoles. The game is being developed using
Unreal Engine 5, which CDPR adopted after transitioning away from their proprietary
REDengine—the technology previously used for
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011) and
Wild Hunt. For
The Witcher IV, CD Project Red partnered with Epic Games to collaborate on Unreal Engine technology, including the engine's open-world capabilities, improving open-world asset streaming and optimizing performance.
The Witcher IV will feature the higher quality hardware-accelerated Lumen
ray tracing engine in Unreal Engine 5 rather than software Lumen.
Animation In February 2026, it was reported that Lucie Hennet had been hired by CD Projekt Red as a cinematic animator. Hennet had previously worked on
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 refining raw motion capture footage into facial and body animations.
The Witcher IV will feature a new horse animation system that simulates horse muscles moving under the skin, similar to that found in
Red Dead Redemption 2. CD Projekt Red are using Unreal Engine's multi-character Motion Matching so the animations when Ciri mounts her horse Kelpie are synchronised. == Marketing and release ==