CD Projekt has shared its product pipeline as part of its FY 2023 earnings report. It shows that two-thirds of the developers in the studio are now working on the company’s next project codenamed Polaris. In terms of numbers, that’s 403 developers. The project is expected to enter the production phase in the second half of the year.
The company’s joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said that the number of developers working on Cyberpunk 2077, has dropped to 17 following the release of the Phantom Liberty expansion. Most of the developers previously working on the game have now been distributed to other projects.
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“The Polaris team, on the other hand, has grown to over 400 developers,” said Nowakowski, “reaching its target size for entering the production phase. This is scheduled for the second half of the year.”
According to the project pipeline shared by CD Projekt on social media, the company is working on three The Witcher games. One of them is a Witcher spin-off called Project Sirius which is led by The Molasses Flood. The project is still in pre-production and the team size remains unchanged compared to the last update.
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CD Projekt is also working on The Witcher Remake and the development of that project is led by Fool’s Theory. The project is still in the concept stage, just like Cyberpunk Project Orion. Finally, CD Projekt is also working on bringing a new IP on board. The project codenamed Hasar is still in the IP concept phase.
As of February 29, 2024, CD Projekt had 627 developers working on seven different projects namely Cyberpunk 2077, Polaris, Orion, Sirius, Hadar, Shared Services, and other projects. The company explained that shared services refer to general development services which include localization, quality assurance, data insights & experiences, and artificial intelligence.
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In case there was any doubt, CD Projekt might have quietly disclosed that it was working with AI in the slide titled “Development teams engaged in ongoing projects”. While the use of AI can make NPCs more alive, it has often been blamed as one of the reasons for the current wave of layoffs in the game industry.
CD Projekt is considering licensing out its IPs to mobile developers
During the question-and-answer session that followed the earnings conference, one caller asked, “Have you considered licensing either of your big IPs to third parties to make mobile games?” The caller then asked if it would be a one-off agreement or a profit-sharing deal.
“The answer is pretty simple here,” said Nowakowski. “The answer is yes, we are considering such a move. In fact, we were pursuing, through conversations, opportunities like that. We have nothing to announce just yet, but when the time comes, we would.”
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“As for a one-off or other business model related to any such potential partnership, we would not comment on the specifics here, to be honest, plus there is nothing in place that we’re talking about. But there’s no predesigned business model we’re looking at in this case, whether one-off or shared profits. That’s another story. But when the time comes, we’ll definitely share information.”
Although there has never been a discussion about a Cyberpunk 2077 mobile game, The Witcher previously got a mobile spinoff called Monster Slayer. However, the project launched to a mixed reception and was eventually shut down after just 2 years. The July 2021 release was a geolocation-based RPG.
The Witcher card game spinoff called Gwent also received Android and iOS ports as well as a standalone single-player expansion called Thronebreaker. Official support for Gwent ended in October 2023, even though the game enjoyed a generally positive reception.
