The Witcher 4 has finally entered its “most intensive phase of development”, according to a recent update from CD Projekt RED.

“Project Polaris”, the codename for CD Projekt RED’s next mainline The Witcher game, was first announced back in 2022.

They revealed that, unlike previous titles, the new game will be utilising Unreal Engine 5 (as opposed to a new version of REDengine, which they used for The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077).

The developer has revealed a few other tidbits about the game in the last couple of years, but we finally got our biggest update regarding its future last night.

In a post on the official CD Projekt website discussing the end of the company’s third quarter in 2024, they revealed that The Witcher 4 has officially moved into “full-scale production.”

Michał Nowakowski, CD PROJEKT’s joint CEO, had this to say regarding The Witcher 4’s new development phase.

“I’m proud to confirm that several weeks ago the Polaris team wrapped up preproduction and moved on to full-scale production – the most intensive phase of development,” he stated in the update.

“We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication.”

So, what does this mean in terms of a release date?

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell. Although it’s certainly a good sign that The Witcher 4 has moved out of its pre-production phase, the new phase of development it’s moved into will undoubtedly be both its longest and most difficult.

It could take two years, and it could take eight. There’s absolutely no way to tell at this point in time.

Hopefully, it’s on the longer side however, considering the state that Cyberpunk 2077 was forced to launch it.

I think I speak for most of us when I say that we’d rather wait longer for something fully formed, rather than see The Witcher 4 forced out of the door ASAP.