As "Cyberpunk 2" enters its pre-production phase and "The Witcher 4" tech demo looms on the horizon, CD Projekt Red has once again clearly articulated its core direction: an unwavering focus on open-world, narrative-driven AAA role-playing games.
On the official "AnsweRED" podcast, CDPR co-founder Marcin Iwiński and co-CEO Adam Badowski admitted that in the past, they had attempted to expand the studio's game genres, but these efforts did not yield the anticipated results. They stated that one of their biggest lessons was recognizing the importance of focus.
"We tried to do some things we wanted to do, and very tempting things," Iwiński stated frankly, "but the fact is, the results were not ideal. We must concentrate our resources on what we do best and go all in." Badowski further emphasized, "Our strategy is clear: developing AAA, open-world, narrative-driven RPGs—that is our core positioning."
Iwiński added that while the industry presents many exciting new gameplay styles and genres, they've learned not to stray from their path just to follow trends.
"When the company grows, you see a lot of external stimuli, cool ideas, making people want to follow suit, but we must calm down and return to our original intention," Iwiński said. Badowski stressed, "Ideas are good, but if they don't fit our game design philosophy, they won't succeed in the long run." These statements not only reflect CDPR's philosophy but also align with the current development of their two flagship projects.
Currently, "Cyberpunk 2" (formerly codenamed Project Orion) has completed its conceptual phase and officially entered pre-production. CDPR stated that this will be their next major project after "Cyberpunk 2077," planning to continue the series' world-building and technical depth.
On the other hand, the tech demo for "The Witcher 4" is set to debut on June 3rd at the "State of Unreal 2025" event. Hosted by Epic Games, the event focuses on annual updates for Unreal Engine and its development ecosystem. This year's event, co-hosted for the first time with Unreal Festival, will feature CDPR showcasing "innovative technologies" and "features" used in "The Witcher 4" and future projects.
While specific gameplay footage or plot details have not yet been revealed, it has been confirmed that Ciri will be the protagonist in "The Witcher 4," with a richer map scale and more extensive character interactions.