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The Witcher “Polaris” Dev Team To Expand to 400 Members in 2024; CDPR Is Not Interested in Getting Acquired

geary

Member
the-witcher-4-project-polaris-mockup-logo-teaser-gr.jpg


The next entry in The Witcher series, currently known as "Polaris", is going to see a development ramp-up in 2024 with the expansion of the development team, according to the current CD Projekt Red CEO.

Speaking with Polish publication Parkiet, Adam Kiciński, who will move onto another role at the company from January 1st, commented on what the studio is working on, starting with the next entry in the series based on the works by Andrzej Sapkowski. As of now, over 330 people are working on Polaris, and the team will be expanded to about 400 people in mid-2024. Next year, CD Projekt Red will also start working on Orion, the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, whose conceptual stage ended a while back. As of now, the development team is still being built, whose core will be the new studio in Boston. Work is also continuing on Sirius in collaboration with The Molasses Flood and the remake of the first entry in The Witcher series.

Speaking about The Witcher "Polaris," Adam Kiciński highlighted how rumors saying that work is at an advanced stage and that a release date will be announced soon are not true. Following the multiple delays of Cyberpunk 2077, the Polish studio will start announcing release dates later than before, but they will still talk about upcoming titles early enough to allow for the proper marketing campaign.

Alongside talking about The Witcher "Polaris," Adam Kiciński also commented on potential acquisitions by the studio, saying that they are not interested in purchasing other companies only to consolidate their financial results. At the same time, CD Projekt Red is not interested in being acquired either by a larger entity, as they have worked their entire lives to get to the position they are currently in, a position that will only improve in a few years.

The Witcher “Polaris” Dev Team To Expand to 400 Members in 2024; CDPR Is Not Interested in Getting Acquired
 

Exentryk

Member
Can't wait for the next Witcher. It will be glorious.

And CDPR have always stated they want to stay independent. And that's great as a consumer as their games are not locked on any platform. I always buy their games on GOG to extra support them.
 

Fess

Member
Sounds good, CDPR is one of few devs who seem to ignore western politics that is shoehorned into many games these days, let them do their thing in peace.
 
💯 agree!

But with the right amount of money anyone can cave. Let’s hope they stay independent as long as possible and Mr Spender stays the hell away from CDPR.

Regulators would shut down MS getting CDPR anyway. Remember, the CMA (and I think the EC) are looking into "genre monopolies", and Microsoft owns a shit-ton of Western RPGs as-is after their previous acquisitions.

Hopefully regulators also take into consideration "purchase rot", i.e how these once-solid/thriving 3P companies might've declined or even perished under ownership of a larger entity within an M&A. I think that should 100% be a consideration as to whether that buyer can be trusted with future similar M&As within the same market; results and reputation should matter just as much as money to spend.

It'd effectively curtail rampant consolidation by the few, and let them know you can't just buy stuff up and yet somehow perform even worst. You're actively hurting the entire market at that point.
 

Xtib81

Member
I really hope they release a finished product this time, like Sony AAA games level of polish. Their games, although incredible, are riddled with bugs.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Regulators would shut down MS getting CDPR anyway. Remember, the CMA (and I think the EC) are looking into "genre monopolies", and Microsoft owns a shit-ton of Western RPGs as-is after their previous acquisitions.

Hopefully regulators also take into consideration "purchase rot", i.e how these once-solid/thriving 3P companies might've declined or even perished under ownership of a larger entity within an M&A. I think that should 100% be a consideration as to whether that buyer can be trusted with future similar M&As within the same market; results and reputation should matter just as much as money to spend.

It'd effectively curtail rampant consolidation by the few, and let them know you can't just buy stuff up and yet somehow perform even worst. You're actively hurting the entire market at that point.
Regulators have sold out a long time ago, it seems. Especially when a political push is followed.
 
Regulators have sold out a long time ago, it seems. Especially when a political push is followed.

Well there's some hope. That MS plant that was supposed to go to the EC, for example, got shut out. Other members of the board kind of caught on to what that was likely going to do (not to mention, they literally bent the rules so she could quality entry), and she ended up withdrawing entering membership.

That put a smile on my face :)
 

RyRy93

Member
CDPR has nearly $300m of cash in the bank (basically the cost of a full fledge AAA game even accounting for 0 revenue during the time of dev), they are good.
Not a vast amount of money for a AAA open-world game releasing in the next few years
 
the-witcher-4-project-polaris-mockup-logo-teaser-gr.jpg


The next entry in The Witcher series, currently known as "Polaris", is going to see a development ramp-up in 2024 with the expansion of the development team, according to the current CD Projekt Red CEO.

Speaking with Polish publication Parkiet, Adam Kiciński, who will move onto another role at the company from January 1st, commented on what the studio is working on, starting with the next entry in the series based on the works by Andrzej Sapkowski. As of now, over 330 people are working on Polaris, and the team will be expanded to about 400 people in mid-2024. Next year, CD Projekt Red will also start working on Orion, the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, whose conceptual stage ended a while back. As of now, the development team is still being built, whose core will be the new studio in Boston. Work is also continuing on Sirius in collaboration with The Molasses Flood and the remake of the first entry in The Witcher series.

Speaking about The Witcher "Polaris," Adam Kiciński highlighted how rumors saying that work is at an advanced stage and that a release date will be announced soon are not true. Following the multiple delays of Cyberpunk 2077, the Polish studio will start announcing release dates later than before, but they will still talk about upcoming titles early enough to allow for the proper marketing campaign.

Alongside talking about The Witcher "Polaris," Adam Kiciński also commented on potential acquisitions by the studio, saying that they are not interested in purchasing other companies only to consolidate their financial results. At the same time, CD Projekt Red is not interested in being acquired either by a larger entity, as they have worked their entire lives to get to the position they are currently in, a position that will only improve in a few years.

The Witcher “Polaris” Dev Team To Expand to 400 Members in 2024; CDPR Is Not Interested in Getting Acquired
They are a public traded company, which means in a way, they've already been acquired. Also, any entity can acquire them by buying up all their public stock.
 

WitchHunter

Banned
Can't wait for the next Witcher. It will be glorious.

And CDPR have always stated they want to stay independent. And that's great as a consumer as their games are not locked on any platform. I always buy their games on GOG to extra support them.
Seeing how CP77 devolved with Phantom Liberty I have doubts, but time will tell.
 

Flutta

Banned
Sounds good, CDPR is one of few devs who seem to ignore western politics that is shoehorned into many games these days, let them do their thing in peace.
W’ll see. Half their team is now allocated in a new studio in Cali if i’m not misstanken, that alone will def have an impact on their storytelling, character building etc. So yeah not holding my breath for either Wichter 4 or their next Cyberpunk game.
 

LordCBH

Member
Good. They need to stay independent. They’d only get ruined if the big corpos came calling with their dump trucks of cash.
 
W’ll see. Half their team is now allocated in a new studio in Cali if i’m not misstanken, that alone will def have an impact on their storytelling, character building etc. So yeah not holding my breath for either Wichter 4 or their next Cyberpunk game.
This was my thought too but Phantom Liberty was sooo good, with such an adult edge to it. I have so much respect for what they achieved with it.
 

Calverz

Member
💯 agree!

But with the right amount of money anyone can cave. Let’s hope they stay independent as long as possible and Mr Spender stays the hell away from CDPR.
You mean embracer? Who acquired studios and then shut them down like 1 year later?
 

Flutta

Banned
This was my thought too but Phantom Liberty was sooo good, with such an adult edge to it. I have so much respect for what they achieved with it.
Decided to go for another play through before jumping on PL. Not sure if that was the right move so can't say much about PL haven't played it yet. But yeah hopefully the sequel doesn't get tainted by any political agendas.

You mean embracer? Who acquired studios and then shut them down like 1 year later?


Confused Trailer Park Boys GIF
 
thank god. Don't let any of the big 3 get their hands on CDPR. We don't need any more industry acquisition as it stands
They are a publicly traded company. I.e they run on someone else's money (investors), investors decide whether CDPR will get acquired not this guy. And investors will allow any acquisition to go through for a good enough return on investment.
 
W’ll see. Half their team is now allocated in a new studio in Cali if i’m not misstanken, that alone will def have an impact on their storytelling, character building etc. So yeah not holding my breath for either Wichter 4 or their next Cyberpunk game.
We'll see? it's already long happened:
 
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Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
I've seen people rejecting offers before. It's possible, and it takes a lot of courage and integrity to do so. Props to them if they can thrive independently.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I've seen people rejecting offers before. It's possible, and it takes a lot of courage and integrity to do so. Props to them if they can thrive independently.
They can operate like a mini Valve since they do have GoG. But still producing their pedigree.

You think Valve has not received offers from various publishers and corporations over the years? I would wager, more than a handful of times.

Keep that integrity intact, please.
 
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Hopefully they will put more resources in developing the gameplay. TW3 has amazing quests but moving though the world is a chore and combat is mediocre at best. If they can marry their prowess in telling good stories with actually great gameplay it can make the studio reach the next level.
 

Neilg

Member
CDPR has nearly $300m of cash in the bank (basically the cost of a full fledge AAA game even accounting for 0 revenue during the time of dev), they are good.
Yeah, the main reason they don't need to be acquired - they can fully fund their next game independently and use short term bridge loans for the marketing budget. Why allow someone else to take all the profits? They're confident their next games will be massive and they'll all end up wealthier and better off this way.
 

Del_X

Member
Actually I will gladly take 2027 release date. I don't see it coming before 2029.
CDPR tends to scale pretty well. Game is done with preproduction, I think. Four years with the tech, tools, reference art etc. in place seems kinda reasonable.

This is assuming it isn’t like 2x the density/detail of something like CP2077 in its current state.
 
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