Global art director and VP Kuba Knapik said on the PlayStation Blog that, “We wanted to make the most of the PS5 Pro’s cutting-edge technology by bringing 4K visuals, powered-up performance, advanced ray tracing, and more to the Cyberpunk 2077 experience. The goal was to bring the very best out of both the hardware and our game to make Night City shine as brightly as possible.”

Besides PSSR, which upscales the visuals to 4K resolution in stunning detail, the development team added 8-way Bounding Volume Hierarchy to its ray-tracing for the more complicated scenes, “bringing the lighting even closer to our artistic vision for this world.”

“Imagine the sunlight catching off the front fairing of your Yaiba Kusanagi CT-3X as you park up, depart down a mysterious dark alley, and uncover secrets glowing under neon light. Players’ overall immersion in the world of Cyberpunk 2077 gets a serious boost from PS5 Pro,” says Knapik.

Speaking of ray tracing, you get not one, not two, but three different modes to choose from. Ray Tracing Pro Mode enables everything, from ray traced reflections and emissive lighting to ambient occlusion, shadows, and skylight. Those with variable refresh rate monitors can play at 40 FPS, while everyone else can experience it at 30 FPS.

Performance Mode delivers up to 90 FPS on VRR displays, while Ray Tracing Mode is a balance between the two, delivering ray tracing and 60 FPS.

Of course, we’ll need to go hands-on with the update to properly detail all the improvements (and anything else that CD Projekt RED may have snuck in), so stay tuned. Cyberpunk 2077 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 – check out our review here. A sequel, Project Orion (unofficially called Cyberpunk 2), is also in the works.

In its full GDC 2026 session outlining the future of Path Tracing, Nvidia’s Martin Stich talked about how one non-gameplay scene (based on assets provided by CD Projekt RED) featured 60 million plants and one million trees across a 5×5 km terrain. Despite featuring 200 different plant species and some trees having more than 10 million polygons, it loads without any streaming.

All of this is complete with fully path-tracing lighting. Perhaps the most impressive part of all this is that it runs at 4K/80 FPS, but there are some caveats. It’s running on an RTX 5090, and the 4K resolution is upscaled from 1440p with DLSS Quality mode. Comparatively, an RTX 4070 would eke out 58 frames at 1440p (upscaled from 960p).

As noted previously, none of this represents the actual gameplay or the hardware you’ll need to run The Witcher 4 on PC. At this point, it’s a cool tech demo of what RTX Mega Geometry is capable of using the game’s assets. Whether it reaches this level of fidelity and complexity remains to be seen, so stay tuned.

The Witcher 4 doesn’t currently have a launch date, though there are claims of a late 2027 launch. Officially, it’s still in full production with CD Projekt RED recently scaling up its team (among others) for the same.

During an earnings call, one investor actually asked when the company would start marketing, and whether it would be a “longer” campaign or a possible shadow drop. Co-CEO Michał Nowakowski responded, “I’d like to say everything is a possibility. But having said that, our experience and our preference, given the types of games we make, is for longer-term marketing campaigns; we think they tend to work a little bit better than, say, a live drop at some conference or event. So I’d point in that direction.”

Long story short, if The Witcher 3’s new DLC ends up real, don’t expect it to drop out of nowhere suddenly. Then again, whether it will be announced several weeks or months out from launch remains unknown.

Either way, Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz reiterated that the company needs to earn 527 million zloty or roughly $143 million to meet its net profit goal. “As always, I’d like to emphasize we still see it as a very ambitious goal. We continue to believe that with strong back catalogue sales performance this year and the new content we’re planning to release, we have a fair chance of reaching it.”

With Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt still racking in the sales (to say nothing of Phantom Liberty, which crossed 10 million sales in May 2025), this new project would certainly put the developer over the top. The question is: When can we expect an announcement?

An analyst told Strefa Inwestorów that they expect it to launch in Q3 2026, taking into account that Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected in November. They felt that September was the “best window,” especially since it would be a nice “back to school” period. Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski believed it could launch in May, retailing for $30, but if an announcement were to happen, it must be in April.

Of course, as we continue to debate when it could launch, CD Projekt RED is hard at work on The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2, for which it’s scaled up both teams. Project Hadar, a brand new IP, is also making progress with the developer prototyping “specific elements.”

“In the coming quarters, the Studio will focus primarily on further development work on ongoing projects; we also plan to publish one of the heretofore unannounced gaming projects,” wrote the company in its earnings report. “In parallel, the studio will continue scaling its dev teams, adapting their respective structures and headcount to the growing needs associated with our multi-project strategy.”

While CD Projekt RED didn’t really reveal any more details about what this unannounced gaming project might be, rumors have been indicated that there are plans for a new DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This DLC is noted as being a transition point in the story, and reports have indicated that it will primarily focus on protagonist Geralt.

Earlier this week, one analyst expressed the belief that CD Projekt RED is aiming for a September launch for this DLC, since it allows the company to avoid the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, which is coming out on November 19th.

“I didn’t include DLC for The Witcher 3 in the model, but like everyone else, I assume that CD Projekt will try to release the DLC before the new GTA release date to avoid this difficult period for other titles,” said the analyst (via machine translation). “So definitely before November, probably around Q3. I think September is the best window. In the summer, gamers are on vacation, and September seems like a nice ‘back to school’ period. However, things could change. They might come up with the idea to release it in two or three months.”

The company has also revealed its other plans for the future during the earnings report. Co-CEO Michał Nowakowski revealed that one of the projects under development at the studio – Project Hadar – had been moving along, to the extent where developers were working on “multiple prototypes” for its gameplay systems.

“We have an important development update regarding our third franchise, Hadar,” he said during the earnings call. “Work on the project is progressing dynamically, and the team has established the foundations of this entirely new IP. Now, we have clearly defined distinguishing features of this world, and established key pillars that will not only provide the foundation for the game itself, but also, potentially, for other future products.”

“The team is now actively designing specific elements that might be included in the game,” he continued. “We are creating multiple prototypes and implementing them directly in Unreal Engine. This allows us to live-test and verify how selected mechanics and gameplay elements can perform.”

Project Hadar had been revealed back in 2022, with the company noting that it was being developed “100% internally”. What sets it apart from Cyberpunk and The Witcher is the fact that it will not be an adaptation of an already-existing work.

“We have an important development update regarding our third franchise, Hadar,” he said during the earnings call. “Work on the project is progressing dynamically, and the team has established the foundations of this entirely new IP. Now, we have clearly defined distinguishing features of this world, and established key pillars that will not only provide the foundation for the game itself, but also, potentially, for other future products.”

Further in the call, he spoke about how the work on the IP itself will also continue to “evolve and develop on many fronts over time.”

“The team is now actively designing specific elements that might be included in the game,” he continued. “We are creating multiple prototypes and implementing them directly in Unreal Engine. This allows us to live-test and verify how selected mechanics and gameplay elements can perform.”

Word on Project Hadar had first come up back in 2022, when it was revealed that CD Projekt RED had been working on it “100% internally”. At the time, it was described as being distinct from the company’s other major franchises: Cyberpunk and The Witcher. Setting Project Hadar further apart is the fact that it won’t be an adaptation of any kind.

“We do certain types of games, and I think it’s safe to assume that we want to continue to do the games within that kind of genre, so you can imagine what kind of game to expect,” said Nowakowski at the time.

Another report from October 2022 has indicated that Hadar might also be an RPG, keeping it in line with CD Projekt’s other titles. During a conference call, Nowakowski noted that “when it comes to the genre, we do certain types of games and I think it’s safe to assume that we want to continue to do the games within that kind of genre, so you can imagine what kind of game to expect.”

The most recent report to have come out about Hadar was CD Projekt RED seemingly expanding its development team. A job listing from back in July 2025 has indicated that, along with RPG elements, the title will also focus primarily on melee combat. The listing was for a senior gameplay designer, and noted that Hadar was “still in its early days” of development. Among the required qualifications for the role was “at least 5+ years of professional experience in a similar role, preferably in RPG/Action titles with melee-oriented combat.”

For now, CD Projekt RED has largely remained silent when it comes to more concrete details about Hadar. Since it is now in the prototyping phase for key game elements, however, we might start seeing more about the project by next year.

Having entered full production in late 2024, it’s interesting to see The Witcher 4’s development team continuing to grow. By comparison, the team working on Project Orion aka Cyberpunk 2 has added approximately 14 developers over the past several months. It’s worth remembering, however, that CDPR previously outlined plans to more than double the size of the Boston, Warsaw, and Vancouver teams.

The plan is for Cyberpunk 2 to have more than 450 developers by 2027. As The Witcher 4’s development is showcasing, however, that could mean full production begins either later this year or early next year (it entered pre-production in May 2025). The development team will then continue scaling throughout until it hits the intended target, and nothing says it can’t increase even further.

The Witcher 4 doesn’t have a launch date or platforms, outside of PC, obviously. Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski believes it could arrive in late 2027 with the rumored Witcher 3 DLC – now believed to be coming in September – serving to bridge the story.

According to the analyst, this puts the release window for the rumored DLC at Q3, before November. They also noted that September likely works as “the best window” for this DLC, since it tends to be a “nice ‘back to school’ period.”

“I didn’t include DLC for The Witcher 3 in the model, but like everyone else, I assume that CD Projekt will try to release the DLC before the new GTA release date to avoid this difficult period for other titles,” said the analyst (via machine translation). “So definitely before November, probably around Q3. I think September is the best window. In the summer, gamers are on vacation, and September seems like a nice ‘back to school’ period. However, things could change. They might come up with the idea to release it in two or three months.”

“We can toss around potential dates, but the company likely takes into account many factors that influence the release window. They’ll probably also have to ensure that the quality from Fool’s Theory is fully satisfactory, so I prefer to assume it will be a bit later.”

Reports of this potential DLC first started coming up back in December, coming in courtesy of Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski. The DLC is expected to bridge the gap in the story between the events of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the upcoming The Witcher 4. According to Chrzanowski, the DLC will be priced at $30, and will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It was also believed to originally be slated for release to coincide with 11th anniversary celebrations for the release of The Witcher 3.

If this DLC comes out, it will be the third major one to come to The Witcher 3, after Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. The two previous DLCs already wrapped up much of protagonist Geralt’s narrative arc. The new DLC will likely help in explaining why Ciri is taking over as the protagonist in The Witcher 4. It is also rumoured to be in development at Fool’s Theory.

Earlier this month, notable leaker NateTheHate said in a report that this DLC actually exists. While not too many details were revealed, the leaker noted that what they indicate is that the story will largely revolve around Geralt.

While CD Projekt RED is yet to make any official announcement for the DLC, the studio is confirmed to be hard at work on a number of projects, including The Witcher 4 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, as well as a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077.

If you’ll recall, CD Projekt RED said there were no plans to support PS5 Pro back in November 2024 (which it further reiterated regarding patch 2.2). To see it change course is quite interesting. Of course, how the development team plans to utilize it remains to be seen.

Thus far, other developers have praised Upgraded PSSR for providing higher-quality and more stable image quality. In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Silent Hill f, it’s helped reduce flickering to a significant degree compared to the older PSSR. Ninja Theory even praised it for improving the quality of particles in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.

If PS5 Pro support is on the horizon, then you have to wonder about that other long-requested feature, New Game Plus. Is this a sign that CD Projekt RED is finally going to give in to fans? One certainly hopes, so stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

“We have no plans for additional DLCs or expansions. If anything changes, we will inform you all!” it said on Twitter in response to a fan asking about “When secret new DLC?” Unfortunately, it didn’t respond when told to “do the same with The Witcher account.”

Phantom Liberty has sold ten million copies as of May 2025 – an especially impressive milestone given that the base game crossed 35 million sales. CD Projekt RED has released multiple updates in recent years, working with Virtuos to add new features like CrystalCoat for customizing vehicle colors. You can even ride the subway, a feature that many lambasted for its absence from the title for years.

Unfortunately, those hankering for more will have to wait until the release of Project Orion, unofficially known as Cyberpunk 2, which doesn’t have a release window or date. It features a new city, which creator Mike Pondsmith likened to “Chicago gone wrong,” and could implement multiplayer, a feature originally meant for the first game before its disastrous launch.

Then again, maybe plans will change, and it will receive the same (alleged) treatment as The Witcher 3, whose new DLC is apparently out in May and connects to The Witcher 4.

Time will tell, but in the meantime, if you haven’t played Cyberpunk 2077, it’s now available on Game Pass alongside Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.

In a response to one of their tweets, popular leaker NateTheHate has stated that the DLC indeed exists, although they were not forthcoming with any further details. However, the assertion does fit in well with theories that the new chapter is reportedly going to focus on Geralt, bridging the story between what is widely seen as the character’s swan song after events in the Blood and Wine expansion and The Witcher 4, where Ciri shows off her swordsmanship and magic prowess.

It’s a move that’s seen as a sort of catalyst for the upcoming title’s promotional campaign, allegedly starting in May 2026, all the way up to its expected release window in late 2027. Furthermore, there is speculation that the new expansion will take Geralt back to Velen, as opposed to earlier rumors that he was going to Zerrakania for his latest outing.

Although CD Projekt RED has been very quiet on this front, even as it assured fans that the remake of the original Witcher is in the works, we’re hoping that we get to hear more about new content for one of modern gaming’s most beloved RPGs. Rest assured, you’ll hear about it as soon as we do, so stay tuned for further updates.

https://x.com/natethehate2/status/2028165635331457259