CD Projekt RED, the studio behind The Witcher franchise, recently announced that The Witcher 4 had entered full production, and now we have a tease for the release window.

This is the studio’s first Witcher game since The Witcher 3, a title that blew the minds of everyone who played it and set a high bar for the next game.

There’s plenty of time to replay The Witcher 3 several more times before The Witcher 4 comes out.

That was back in 2015 and now the company is working on Project Polaris, which is the codename for The Witcher 4.

It took around four years of development for the last game as it got underway in 2011, so many have assumed that we’ll see The Witcher 4 in 2028 given its production commencing this year.

There are some things to consider, however.

Development takes much longer nowadays due to the leaps in technology, plus the game is likely to grow in size and scope from The Witcher 3.

We also can’t account for development delays.

While the past leaking of documents from Microsoft pointed to 2028 being the target window for the game, teasing us immensely, it’s more likely to fall back to 2029 or even 2030.

This would also point to the game being developed with the next generation of consoles in mind, and we already have some idea that these won’t be with us until around 2028, if rumours are to be believed.

So, while the Microsoft documents did tease a date for us, we have to take it with a large pinch of salt, for now.

None of this stops us being incredibly excited, as we have a huge love for The Witcher 3 and the franchise generally.

Hopefully, the new year brings more news from CD Projekt RED and perhaps even some details on the story which has only been teased at this point.

Does anyone have a time machine to hand? I’m asking for a friend.