CD Projekt Red has come a long way since it shipped the original Witcher game in 2007. 15 years later the studio has grown to span two continents and produce not just multiple franchises, but multiple games within those franchises at once.
While we knew it was planning to develop two games simultaneously going forward, the Poland-based developer kicked down the doors of the AAA gaming space in October 2022 as it announced four new Witcher games, a new Cyberpunk, and another, brand new project all at once.
The explosion of information has led to some complicated ideas though, with lots of numbers and orders, and schedules being thrown around. CD Projekt Red’s next three releases will be Witcher games, for example, but these aren’t the new Witcher trilogy. Confusing!
To keep on top of things, IGN has put together this list of every CD Projekt Red game currently in development, as well as what we know about the release timeline. The developer also said it’s opening itself up to partnerships with external studios for mobile games based on its franchises, but as nothing specific has been announced yet, these won’t be on the list.
Most games currently just have codenames (which are named after stars, because CD Projekt Red is “reaching for the stars”), but we’ve also explained in plainer terms what each game actually is.
Polaris, aka The Witcher 4
A single teaser image was released in March 2022 to announce a new Witcher saga (Image: CD Projekt Red)
CD Projekt Red confirmed that a new Witcher game that would mark the beginning of a new saga was in development in March 2022, and though it’s not officially called The Witcher 4, this one can be thought of as the true next Witcher game.
Later revealed to be codenamed Polaris, the new game won’t be released until 2025 at the earliest as it only entered pre-production in May 2022. It’s also being developed in Unreal Engine 5, a new endeavor for CD Projekt Red that’s essentially requiring them to create everything from the ground up and establish a new foundation for its games going forward. It will, however, be one of the next two games released by CD Projekt Red.
There aren’t any real story details on Polaris so far, though we know it will be the first game in a new trilogy and its teaser images show a Witcher medallion depicting a Lynx, causing many to speculate that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Ciri will be the new protagonist (as Geralt is officially out of the picture).
The last tidbit of information on Polaris is that CD Projekt Red’s Jason Slama will be directing it. Slama most recently was game director of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and has promised no crunch will take place at the studio following its Cyberpunk 2077 controversy.
Sirius, The Molasses Flood Game
Sirius is the new game from The Molasses Flood, that CD Projekt Red purchased in 2021 (Image: CD Projekt Red)
Another Witcher game, codenamed Sirius, is in development at The Molasses Flood, the developer of The Flame in the Flood and Drake Hollow which was bought by CD Projekt Red in October 2021. It is the only other game, alongside Polaris, that’s currently in development under CD Projekt Red’s umbrella (outside of the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion), though it is still in pre-production.
The game will have single-player elements like a story and quests but will also blend in multiplayer components, with CD Projekt Red confirming explicitly that players will be able to play together. While Sirius is set in the Witcher universe and is being developed with support from CD Projekt Red, however, it won’t follow the open-world RPG formula of either Polaris or The Witcher 3.
It is instead “targeted at a broader audience”, and while we don’t know exactly what that means, CD Projekt Red’s Michał Nowakowski said it is “definitely not a smaller game” and “definitely not a mobile game”. It’s instead looking to bring in people who are interested in the Witcher franchise, perhaps because of the Netflix show or books, but aren’t interested in playing a “hardcore roleplaying game” he added.
No further details were shared, but we can ascertain from various job listings from The Molasses Flood that Sirius will likely feature stylized art and some form of procedurally generated levels with leveling up and a combat system, perhaps suggesting a survival or rogue-like game. It’s unclear when we’ll find out more, but Sirius will be one of the next three games to be released from CD Projekt Red.
Canis Majoris, Another Open World Witcher RPG
Canis Majoris is another “full-fledged” open world Witcher being developed by a third party (Image: CD Projekt Red)
Polaris is kicking off another trilogy of traditional Witcher games but these won’t be the only “full-fledged” entries on the horizon. Canis Majoris is the codename for another AAA, story-driven Witcher RPG, but this one is only being published by CD Projekt Red.
A currently unknown developer, led by industry veterans who have worked on previous Witcher games, will instead create a new entry in Unreal Engine 5 using the same toolset as Polaris. CD Projekt Red president and joint CEO Adam Kiciński confirmed that Canis Majoris will arrive after Polaris as a result, meaning it’s also at least three years away, and likely more.
Though we don’t know who’s making it at the moment, we know who isn’t. Rebel Wolves – a studio formed by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s game director and various other former CD Projekt Red employees – confirmed that it’s not the mysterious studio behind the spin-off after it was hounded by fans who expected its own AAA dark fantasy to be the new Witcher game.
Marcin Jefimow was also expected (as a CD Projekt Red executive producer who left the company in September 2022) but he confirmed to IGN that neither he or his new team are involved. We may not have too long to wait before the mystery studio is revealed though, as Kiciński also commented that CD Projekt Red will share more “soon, really soon”.
Orion, the Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel
Orion isn’t in development yet but will be the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 (Image: CD Projekt Red)
Despite making clear in the past that more Cyberpunk games would be on the way, CD Projekt Red officially confirmed its plans for a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 in October 2022. Codenamed Orion, the game isn’t in development yet as it first requires “further growth of the team”, something that CD Projekt Red is taking seriously as it fully expands into the U.S.
Aptly titled CD Projekt Red North America, this official new studio will be based in Boston (next to but separate from The Molasses Flood) but also encompass its Vancouver team that was acquired in March 2021.
CD Projekt Red North America will be the headlining studio behind the development of Orion, and while some talent including Cyberpunk 2077’s lead quest designer Paweł Sasko is moving over from Poland, a significant wave of hiring is expected as CD Projekt Red’s CFO Piotr Nielubowicz commented that it’s “safe to assume” it will require between 350 to 500 developers to create Orion.
Hadar, CD Projekt Red’s First Original IP
CD Projekt Red began the early conceptual work on its first brand new title, Hadar, in 2021 (Image: CD Projekt Red)
CD Projekt Red has officially begun work on its own, original IP after developing games for existing properties for close to 20 years. Very little was said about what this game, codenamed Hadar, will be, but it’s been in consideration for a few years and official early conceptual work began in late 2021.
Hadar is likely years and years away, however, perhaps even the furthest away of all the CD Projekt Red games that we currently know about, as the foundation of the new setting is still in a creative exploration stage. There’s no suggestion as to what it will be about, but CD Projekt Red has remained committed to its branding of being a studio that creates AAA, story-driven RPGs, meaning Hadar will likely fall into that category.
The studio has said it plans to include multiplayer elements in most of its future titles too, however, and its own IP may be the perfect place to explore this concept without restrictions.
The Currently Unnamed Witcher 5 and 6
The only games confirmed without codenames, the Witcher 5 and 6 (for lack of official titles) were the final two games confirmed by CD Projekt Red in October 2022. Very little was said about the games, though they’ll wrap up the new Witcher trilogy that starts with Polaris, and similarly can be viewed as mainline Witcher games.
The trilogy marks a new saga for the Witcher as it moves on from its previous protagonist Geralt, whose story was wrapped up across the original Witcher books from Andrzej Sapkowski and the first trilogy of Witcher games.
We don’t know much else beyond what has already been said about Polaris, but CD Projekt Red has at least offered a schedule for these final two games. It currently plans to release them both within six years of Polaris, meaning a new Witcher trilogy game would be released every three years on average.
It’s unknown when Polaris will kick things off, of course, but given that it won’t be released until at least 2025, the new trilogy will extend into at least 2031. Though three games in six years seems ambitious, CD Projekt Red is currently working on creating the trilogy’s foundations within Unreal Engine 5 that will be used across all three, meaning the latter two will be slightly easier to develop.
CD Projekt Red also released the first three Witcher games across eight years with a fraction of its current development capabilities, with the original launching in 2007 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt wrapping up the trilogy in 2015.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.