The Witcher 4 is being "intensively worked on," but Cyberpunk 2 is keeping most of its senior devs to "preserve" the RPG's DNA

Cyberpunk 2077
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

CD Projekt Red has revealed The Witcher 4 is being "intensively worked on," and that most of Cyberpunk 2077's devs are staying on for the sequel to "preserve" its DNA. 

In an interview with Aftermath, Paweł Sasko - who worked as quest director on Phantom Liberty and is now the associate director of the Cyberpunk sequel - gives a small update on not only the futuristic RPG but also The Witcher 4, aka Project Polaris. The studio currently has several games in the works and it seems they're all progressing at different rates.

The developer said some of the Cyberpunk 2077 team has moved over to The Witcher 4 - which is being "intensively worked on" at the moment. Before you worry about how this will affect Cyberpunk 2 aka Project Orion's development, Sasko has said the game is in the"fairly early stages" of production and is being worked on by devs who are "well-trained" from working on Phantom Liberty previously. 

In addition, "most managers and most directors who worked on Cyberpunk and Phantom Liberty are on [the new] Cyberpunk," the developer tells the outlet. Sasko also reveals that some lead developers are on board and that it depends on the "needs of a project at a given time." It's important to keep as much of the team as possible, Sasko says, as "we want to make sure that whole DNA is preserved and still in the game." 

In the same interview, Sasko reflected on Cyberpunk 2077's less-than-ideal launch and said avoiding crunch is key to keeping studios afloat. The developer also revealed that CD Projekt Red moved away from its "old-fashioned" production methods during Phantom Liberty's development as "sustainability is incredibly important."

Elsewhere at the studio, some of CD Projekt Red's developers are busy working on The Witcher 3: Wildhunt's official modding tool which, as of this week, is available to try out via Steam for those who sign up for the playtest.

Find out what else the studio is working on with our upcoming CD Projekt Red games list. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.  

Read more
The Witcher 4 cinematic screenshot showing a closeup of Ciri, protagonist of the new adventure
10 years later, "around 100" Witcher 3 devs are still at CD Projekt Red working on games like The Witcher 4
The Witcher 4 screenshot showing the stunning Unreal Engine 5 fidelity
The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs praise and support vampire RPG from former CDPR staff: "These games have shared lineage and shared values"
The Witcher 4
The Witcher 4 NPCs will offer a "more immersive experience" than other CD Projekt games: "We are trying to push the bar here"
The Witcher 4 screenshot showing the stunning Unreal Engine 5 fidelity
CD Projekt Red prepared for The Witcher 4's "vibe" by having devs old and new make a fresh quest together in The Witcher 3's next-gen update
The Witcher 4 screenshot showing Ciri getting ready for action in a dank cave
The Witcher 4: Everything we know so far
The Witcher 4 screenshot showing the stunning Unreal Engine 5 fidelity
The Witcher 4 director refutes claims that Ciri's appearance has changed since the reveal trailer: "We have not modified it"
Latest in RPG
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 "is done," but it's been delayed again to October for "bug fixing, stability, and performance"
Assassin's Creed 3 screenshot of Desmond hilding a circular Isu artifact
Assassin's Creed Shadows' modern storyline is kind of non-existent and I couldn't be happier about it
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot of an enemy falling backwards through the air away from Yasuke who's just performed a War Kick
Forget the hidden blade: if you're not yeeting enemies in Assassin's Creed Shadows, you're missing out
The Witcher 4 cinematic screenshot showing a closeup of Ciri, protagonist of the new adventure
"We slept under our desks and lived in chaos": Before the Witcher 3 became an RPG phenomenon, CDPR's CEOs had a tough time making the original game
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt Red won't make survival games just because they're popular, but Netflix's Edgerunners anime is fueling dreams bigger than RPGs
Fallout 76 screenshot showing an irradiated mutant man-like creature screeching, its sharp canine teeth showing
After 14 years at Bethesda, Skyrim and Fallout veteran made his final settlement in just 2 days – but only because he'd made some rough ones before that
Latest in News
Batman looking over the city during Batman: Arkham City, one of the best PS3 games.
The PS2 Batman Begins game was considered such a "disaster" that Christopher Nolan turned down a Dark Knight-inspired game
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe assassinating target with Tanto skill
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first title update is a hotfix with three lines of patch notes and a download size up to 9GB
a victory screen showing someone in a day of the dead mask and another who is an old man looking sad
GeoGuessr is coming to Steam and you can go head-to-head to prove you're the best geographer of them all
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 "is done," but it's been delayed again to October for "bug fixing, stability, and performance"
Ben Affleck in Air
Ben Affleck isn't in The Odyssey, but he plans to visit the set anyway to watch Christopher Nolan work: "He's one of the greatest filmmaking architects to ever live"
GTA 6 trailer screenshots showing lucia in an interview room
"GTA 6 is basically a huge meteor, and we will just stay clear of the blast zone": Publishers are in a frenzy over when to release their games to avoid Rockstar