About half of CD Projekt Red’s workforce, nearly 330 developers, are currently dedicated to working on The Witcher 4, codenamed Polaris.

This information was confirmed in CDPR’s Q3 earnings report, revealing that as of 31 October 2023, almost 50% of the development staff is focused on the highly anticipated sequel. CD Projekt Red’s CEO, Adam Kicinski, also mentioned that they anticipate the Polaris team will grow to over 400 developers by mid-2024.

Initially, as of July 31, 2023, the Polaris team consisted of 260 members, which was more than a third of the entire CD Projekt Red workforce. However, the development on the game has intensified following the release of the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion, Phantom Liberty. The report highlights that over 25% of developers are currently in transition away from Phantom Liberty, and many of them are expected to join the Polaris team, along with those working on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel codenamed Orion and other projects.

Regarding the development stage, CD Projekt Red has not provided recent details, but it was confirmed in May 2022 that Polaris had entered pre-production. Despite the boost in development, CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kicinski emphasized that the release of another Witcher game is not imminent. He mentioned in October 2022 that Polaris is still at least three years away. This extended timeline is attributed to the studio not only creating an entirely new game but also developing new technology within Unreal Engine 5.

While Polaris was officially announced in March 2022, the three-year estimate could potentially be on the earlier side of the timeline. Chief Commercial Officer Michal Nowakowski had previously stated that developing a new game alongside new technology typically takes four or five years, although he noted that this might not be a strict rule in the case of Polaris.