In what can only be regarded as very good news after a few weeks of seeing major gaming events around the world cancelled, and a few months of major game releases being delayed, Polish studio CD Projekt Red have confirmed that a new game in its acclaimed The Witcher series will enter development later in 2020.
This news comes straight from the mouth of CDPR president Adam Kiciński (via Gamesradar+ and Eurogamer), who told journalists in Poland that a "relatively clear concept" was already in place for the next Witcher game, and that production on it would start "immediately" after the studio's current game-in-the-works Cyberpunk 2077 was released.
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The studio's previous Witcher game, 2015's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, became a global smash-hit, selling over 20 million copies and earning several game of the year-style awards. (Although, notably, it received seven nominations at the gaming BAFTAs in the UK, and won none of them.) The game came to Switch in 2019, selling even more copies; and its Steam player numbers spiked in December 2019, off the back of a certain TV show...
Following the game's success, sales of the books that inspired the game series, written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, went up; and Netflix then adapted stories from said books into an eight-part series starring Henry Cavill, simply titled The Witcher (read our review, here). Season two of the show is due in 2021, and an animated spin-off, Nightmare of the Wolf, is expected later this year.
The Witcher is kind of a big deal right now, basically. So it makes sense that CD Projekt Red would come back for more - despite kind of wrapping up the story of the witcher of the series' title, Geralt of Rivia, at the end of Wild Hunt's DLC expansion, Blood and Wine. What the studio won't be doing, though, is cracking on with whatever the next Witcher game is before it has Cyberpunk 2077 finished and out the door.
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CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 has been a long time coming, having been announced in May 2012 and finally releasing on September 17 this year, after a few notable delays. It's a huge game, with an awesome amount of hype around it, and massive expectations on its shoulders. Hopefully it delivers on most of what it's been promising for several years now.
Work on the new Witcher game will start slowly, with just a small team within CDPR dedicated to it, and much of the studio still committed to supporting and evolving Cyberpunk 2077 after its release - and no doubt getting it 'upgraded' for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.
Kiciński added that all current - and future - CDPR games are set to be based in either the worlds of Cyberpunk or The Witcher. Though naturally, if for some reason Cyberpunk 2077 was to bomb (and I don't think any of us expect it to), that could change. Whatever we've seen of the game so far has looked pretty darn good, and we expect to see more of it still before the game's release in September.
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And as for another Witcher game? Colour us very excited indeed - but maybe this one, which won't be called The Witcher 4 by the way, could focus on another of the series' stars...
Featured Image Credit: CD Projekt Red / Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe
Topics: The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red