The troubled launch of Cyberpunk 2077 may still affect The Witcher 4, according to CD Projekt Red joint CEO Michał Nowakowski. Although the executive acknowledged that the studio may not be done making amends for its last AAA release, he also expressed hope that the company’s redemption arc may soon be completed by either The Witcher 4 or one other project.
Cyberpunk 2077 was infamously broken at launch, especially on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, whose versions struggled with performance to the point of unplayability. Over the years, CDPR improved the game with numerous performance patches and free content updates. Its last-gen versions eventually reached a playable state, while the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC received Phantom Liberty, the game’s only paid DLC, which launched to critical acclaim in late 2023. By CDPR’s own estimates, fixing Cyberpunk 2077 had cost about $126 million by the time the well-received expansion launched.
Why the Release Gap Between The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077’s Sequel May Be Shorter Than Expected
The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel are in development, and while the timeline is daunting, fans may not have to wait too long.
CDPR Wants The Witcher 4 To Help Rebuild Trust After Cyberpunk 2077
In a recent interview with the Knowledge newsletter, CDPR co-CEO Michał Nowakowski said has not fully bought into the idea that the Polish developer has truly completed its redemption arc. “I’m convinced that we lost the faith of some people indefinitely, and that’s a fair thing,” the executive said. Looking ahead, Nowakowski said he hopes CDPR can win back some of the consumer goodwill it once enjoyed with either The Witcher 4 or “whatever comes next.” Given that the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel entered pre-production in late 2025, it is a plausible candidate for the studio’s first project after The Witcher 4.
CDPR’s 10-Year Plan Starts with The Witcher 4
Elsewhere in the interview, Nowakowski discussed CDPR’s medium- and long-term prospects, saying the studio is operating with a rolling 10-year content roadmap. The current plan, which begins with The Witcher 4, centers on gradually becoming a company that can make games faster. In practice, that means moving from a mix of game developer and technology maker into a pure entertainment company. That is why CDPR is abandoning its REDengine in favor of Unreal Engine 5, which will power all of its upcoming titles. In June 2025, the company shared a striking tech demo showing how The Witcher 4 might look running on Unreal Engine 5.
CDPR Isn’t Aiming for Annual AAA Game Releases
Leaving engine technology to a specialized engine maker will allow CDPR to focus on games, with the broader goal of making them faster. Even so, Nowakowski said there is a limit to what “faster” means in this context. The company is not trying to reach a point where it releases major games every year, though he said that “may happen” at some point. “We just want to make really cool games, and we don’t want to have a ton of IPs either,” Nowakowski explained.
In practical terms, CDPR’s plan is best reflected in its ambitious roadmap for the second Witcher trilogy. The studio wants to release the trilogy over just six years, counting from The Witcher 4 to The Witcher 6. That would require each sequel to be made significantly faster than the previous game, which should be possible with appropriate asset reuse. With the hardware industry currently facing component shortages driven by aggressive AI investment, this may be an especially good time to release a trio of AAA games that target roughly the same level of graphical fidelity, as many consumers are unlikely to upgrade their gaming systems in the foreseeable future.
