The Witcher 4 was first confirmed to be in development back in March 2022. On that occasion, CD Projekt Red said that the game is code-named Project Polaris and that it's going to use Unreal Engine 5 rather than its proprietary RED Engine, which has effectively been retired following the release of Cyberpunk 2077.
And while the studio has shared little official news about the project ever since, some of its details have now leaked online via a Spotlight profile of British actor Jake Lampert. As first spotted by Reddit user KekanKok, Lampert's online resume states that he is involved in The Witcher 4, playing a character named Branko. An even bigger takeaway from this leak is the game's tentative release window, which is listed as 2025 on the page. This time frame aligns with a recently emerged GOG placeholder page for The Witcher 4, which also suggests that the game is targeting a 2025 release.
Cyberpunk 2077 Voice Director Is Returning for The Witcher 4
Lampert's Spotlight profile also reveals that his performance of Branko was directed by one Kate Saxon. This is presumably the same London-based voice and performance capture director who has been working with CD Projekt Red since the late 2000s. According to the MobyGames database, her video game credits include The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk 2077, among dozens of other projects. She was credited as the lead voice director in the latest two mainline The Witcher games, whereas Cyberpunk 2077's credits list her under the "Additional Voice Directors" section.
A 2025 Release May Not Be Impossible for The Witcher 4
Back in October 2022, CD Projekt Red said that The Witcher 4 was at least three years away from release. And given how two separate sources have now attached a tentative 2025 release window to the project, it appears that the work on the game has so far been progressing well and without major delays.
Nearly half of CDPR's 1,200-strong staff has been working on Project Polaris since late 2023, suggesting that the game has been in active production for a while now. Since AAA development cycles are at least five years long nowadays, it's plausible that the work on The Witcher 4 started no later than late 2020, about a year and a half before the existence of Project Polaris was officially confirmed.
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Source: https://gamerant.com/witcher-4-polaris-character-info-branko-jake-lampert-release-window-hint/
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