Again in March 2022, CD Projekt introduced {that a} new Witcher sport (opens in new tab) was in growth, which we ultimately got here to know as Mission Polaris. We instantly referred to 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 referred to as The Witcher 4.”
“It was our preliminary affirmation of a brand new saga in The Witcher franchise,” international PR director Radek Grabowski tweeted on the time. “Proper now, we’re not 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 in the course of the firm’s year-end monetary name, in response to a query about CD Projekt’s transfer to Unreal Engine 5.
“We’re making ready issues on the pipeline sides and toolset sides,” CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński mentioned. “Some builders are nonetheless studying the know-how, and on the similar time there are groups working along with Epic on all these points which are wanted for our open-world, story-driven RPGs. And undoubtedly for the primary mission, Polaris, it’ll possibly not decelerate, nevertheless it 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 wish to launch three huge Witcher video games (opens in new tab) inside six years, ranging from the discharge of Polaris, which is Witcher 4.”
This was really dropped at my consideration by a colleague at GamesRadar (opens in new tab), who wished to double-check with me that Kiciński was in truth saying “Witcher 4,” and never, possibly, “Witcher, however extra” in a Polish accent. To each our ears, there is not any query: He mentioned “Witcher 4.”
You’ll be able to hear it for your self on this time-stamped YouTube hyperlink (opens in new tab).
To be clear, this is not huge information a couple of 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 chucking up the sponge and calling it “The Witcher 4,” similar to everybody else.
The brand new sport will 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 actually, CD Projekt described Kiciński’s assertion as “a slip of the tongue” in an e-mail despatched to PC Gamer.
“Polaris would be the first sport in a brand new Witcher saga,” a CD Projekt rep mentioned. “The saga will include three video games. The official identify of this mission is Polaris.”
That is honest sufficient from an inside growth standpoint. Nothing has modified, on paper not less than, and Polaris it stays for now. However all of us heard it, and albeit it was good that somebody at CD Projekt lastly mentioned it out loud: The Witcher 4 is coming.
