Again in March 2022, CD Projekt introduced {that a} new Witcher game (opens in new tab) was in growth, which we finally got here to know as Venture Polaris. We instantly known as it The Witcher 4 (opens in new tab)—it is the one coming after The Witcher 3, so it simply made sense—however CD Projekt made a degree of claiming it had not introduced “a sport known as The Witcher 4.”
“It was our preliminary affirmation of a brand new saga in The Witcher franchise,” world PR director Radek Grabowski tweeted on the time. “Proper now, we aren’t discussing any specifics in phrases or story, characters, mechanics, or plot particulars.”
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However that was then and that is now, and now CD Projekt has—for the primary time, so far as I do know—referred to Polaris as The Witcher 4. The assertion got here throughout the firm’s year-end monetary name, in response to a query about CD Projekt’s transfer to Unreal Engine 5.
“We’re getting ready issues on the pipeline sides and toolset sides,” CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński stated. “Some builders are nonetheless studying the expertise, and on the identical time there are groups working along with Epic on all these facets which can be wanted for our open-world, story-driven RPGs. And undoubtedly for the primary mission, Polaris, it is going to perhaps not decelerate, but it surely will not speed up the method.
“However for the subsequent mission, we assume that it ought to clean the manufacturing. That was one of many causes behind the technique, that we need to launch three big Witcher games (opens in new tab) inside six years, ranging from the discharge of Polaris, which is Witcher 4.”
This was truly delivered to my consideration by a colleague at GamesRadar (opens in new tab), who wished to double-check with me that Kiciński was actually saying “Witcher 4,” and never, perhaps, “Witcher, however extra” in a Polish accent. To each our ears, there is not any query: He stated “Witcher 4.”
You possibly can hear it for your self on this time-stamped YouTube link (opens in new tab).
To be clear, this is not large information a few fourth Witcher sport. We have recognized about that for a yr now, and regardless of CD Projekt’s protests we have been calling it Witcher 4 all alongside. Even so, I really feel like this can be a noteworthy second: CD Projekt’s head honcho himself lastly dropping out and calling it “The Witcher 4,” identical to everybody else.
The brand new sport might not be Witcher 4 when it lastly launches. It is nonetheless within the early levels of growth, and a full and correct title has not been formally introduced. It may find yourself as The Witcher: Infinite, or The Witchers, or Witcher: Novigrad Metropolis, or one thing equally fanciful and unlikely. And in reality, CD Projekt described Kiciński’s assertion as “a slip of the tongue” in an electronic mail despatched to PC Gamer.
“Polaris would be the first sport in a brand new Witcher saga,” a CD Projekt rep stated. “The saga will encompass three video games. The official identify of this mission is Polaris.”
That is truthful sufficient from an inner growth standpoint. Nothing has modified, on paper not less than, and Polaris it stays for now. However all of us heard it, and admittedly it was good that somebody at CD Projekt lastly stated it out loud: The Witcher 4 is coming.
