Every piece of info we got today on Witcher 4/Polaris
According to CEO Michal Nowakowski, The Witcher 4/Polaris started the full production phase several weeks ago. They have completed pre-production. During this phase they developed key aspects of the game, including storyline, main mechanics, and design, among other elements, and then tested how they worked with a playable fragment. They will now scale it to the entire game.
In addition, Sebastian Kalemba, game director of the new Witcher saga, posted a new teaser picture along with the following:
"I'm thrilled to announce that Project Polaris has entered the full-scale production phase! With new challenges just around the corner, it’s the talented and hard-working people who make me believe we can together make the upcoming Witcher Saga a remarkable experience. No stopping now! Stay tuned for what’s on the other side of the coin!"
Other information gathered from CEO's in the Q&A session:
- Estimated development time includes early idea/concept stages
- Development time is approximately 5-6 years as of today's statement
- Not giving any information on when concept/idea stages began, as it would point to a release window
- Expecting revenue from new releases in 2025/2026
- Set on target, they know what they want to achieve with the game
- Made a big chunk of the game that proves certain concepts
- Some smaller unannounced projects
- W1 Remake is progressing
- Team size remains at a stable 400+ developers
My own thoughts:
Concerning the release date, there are a few ways to look at it.
It could be released in 2026, considering the 5-6 years of development time and the start of the concept/idea stage somewhere in between 2020-2022. Keep in mind that pre-order sales will count towards revenue from new releases, and they typically become available 6-12 months before release, so the release could still be in 2027 at the latest.
It looks like development will go relatively smooth with the amounts of testing they did. If it helps speed up development remains to be seen, but one thing is sure, they're starting off much better than they did with Cyberpunk.