CD Projekt Red has offered fresh insight into its mysterious game currently known by the codename Project Hadar, with joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski describing the title as the studio's "biggest project to date." According to Eurogamer reporting based on an interview with Polish outlet PAP Biznes, the game has been in development for several years but remains a long way from release.
Speaking about the current status of the project, Nowakowski noted that the team has a coherent vision for the world and key elements, but confirmed they are not quite at the pre-production stage yet. The small team is currently developing small prototypes and testing gameplay components using Unreal Engine. Unlike The Witcher series, which was created by Andrzej Sapkowski, and Cyberpunk 2077, which stems from Mike Pondsmith's tabletop RPG, Hadar is an entirely new intellectual property.
Financial reports from September indicate that Hadar remains a small undertaking relative to the studio's other major initiatives. As of July 31, only 33 staff members were assigned to Hadar. By comparison, CD Projekt Red had 519 employees working on The Witcher 4, 184 dedicated to Cyberpunk 2, and 84 assigned to the multiplayer Witcher spin-off Project Sirius, which recently experienced layoffs according to the source.
During the same interview, Nowakowski discussed The Witcher 4, labeling it the company's "most ambitious project to date" with a targeted release window of 2028. He emphasized that the studio aims to avoid repeating past work by introducing fresh narrative frameworks, gameplay mechanics, and quest innovations to push RPG boundaries. Additionally, Nowakowski addressed potential distribution challenges for a physical release of The Witcher 4, noting that Sony's reported plans to phase out PlayStation disc production by 2028 mean studios may lack alternative options if hardware manufacturers halt physical media entirely.
Why It Matters
The slow progress on Project Hadar highlights a shifting strategic timeline for CD Projekt Red as it balances major established franchises with long-term foundational world-building. With a team of just 33 people working on prototypes after four years since its announcement, Hadar appears designed to incubate a broad narrative universe before scaling up production. This measured approach suggests the studio wants to establish robust narrative pillars that could support multi-product expansions down the line, similar to its past tentpole properties. However, because the title is not yet in pre-production, fans should expect the studio's core focus to remain squarely on The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, Nowakowski's comments regarding physical media phase-outs point to growing industry-wide anxiety over digital-only transitions on consoles, which could fundamentally reshape how massive RPG releases are packaged and sold near the end of the decade.
Illustration: AI-generated image, not a photograph of the event.
Source: Eurogamer.net
Original source: https://www.eurogamer.net/cd-projekt-red-project-hadar-sirius-witcher