CD Projekt Red, the Polish developer best known for its amazing RPG series The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, has officially finished imagining up a new world for us to play in. The “world vision” stage for its new IP, Project Hadar, has been completed and work has officially begun on turning those concepts into a video game.
“This has been our biggest undertaking to date, taking us several years, but at this point we can say we have a coherent vision for this world and its key elements,” said Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski. “The team has begun work on the game, although it’s not yet in pre-production.”
In September, CD Projekt Red said it was staffing up for Project Hadar, with a team over 30 strong with plans “to hire more, up to 50 developers by the end of this year. But what is it? In June, a new job advert teased what to expect, calling for an engineering director who would help “push the envelope for the next, immersive game in the Hadar world, creating an emotional, open-world experience that will stay with gamers.” Open-world confirmed!
CD Projekt Red is of course currently hard at work making The Witcher 4, which is the next game on the studio’s slate due out 2028. Before that, though, a third major expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, titled Songs of the Past, is scheduled for release next year. Developed by Fool’s Theory, a team of former CD Projekt developers, the expansion aims to bridge the gap between The Witcher 3 and the next game in the series, starring Geralt’s adopted daughter, Ciri.
After that comes Cyberpunk 2, the follow-up to Cyberpunk 2077. And let’s not forget that CD Projekt intends to release the new The Witcher 3 trilogy in the space of six years. Assuming CD Projekt hits 2028 for The Witcher 4, and the company sticks to its ambitious release strategy for this new The Witcher trilogy, we could see The Witcher 5 in 2031 and The Witcher 6 in 2034. Where Hadar fits in with all that is anyone’s guess.
We know nothing about Project Hadar’s world or setting, but it’ll be cool to see what the wonderful minds at CDPR think up — especially as it’ll be designed first and foremost to support a sprawling RPG. I do selfishly wish CDPR would do one more license though. Give us a good Game of Thrones video game. Please. You could call it Project Hodor.
The next series of the anime based on CDPR and Pondsmith’s shared world is coming to Netflix on October 20. You can check out our interview with the creator of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 for the lowdown.
Elsewhere in CD Project Land, The Witcher 3 just got a remaster on consoles and PC, which saw the iconic RPG get a makeover to tide people over until the expansion. There were some issues with the new visuals, particularly heavy bloom in The Witcher 3 remaster, but CDPR fixed its prized goose sharpish.
Kirk McKeand is a Contributor on IGN News. Find him on Twitter @MckKirk