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.

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.

Hennet showcased some of her work during her tenure at Sandfall Interactive—which lasted from May 2023 to the end of 2024—through a showcase reel on ArtStation. It features plenty of motion capture footage for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Hennet was responsible for converting the raw motion capture footage into a cleaner version, which could then be further refined for the full game.

“During my time at Sandfall Interactive, my main responsibilities included cleaning up and refining body and facial motion capture, as well as managing data from Xsens to UE5,” wrote Hennet on ArtStation. “I also provided support on the motion capture sessions and contributed to building the animation pipeline for the cinematics.”

Development on The Witcher 4 has seemingly been going slow and steady, with CD Projekt RED also focusing on growing its team. Interestingly, December saw the studio add another cinematics-focused artist to its ranks—former Baldur’s Gate 3 senior cinematic artist Felix Pedulla.

“After an incredible and frankly wild six-year ride with the amazing team at Larian Studios, a new chapter begins,” wrote Pedulla on LinkedIn. “I’m so grateful for every chaotic, creative, and unforgettable moment we shared. We made some serious magic together, and I’ll forever cherish the lessons and memories. A huge thank you to all my incredible colleagues and friends I made.”

“As one adventure ends, another begins! I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I’m joining the legendary team at CD Projekt Red as a Senior Cinematic Designer! The opportunity to contribute to one of the most ambitious studios in the industry is a dream come true. Time to trade in my Baldur’s Gate dice for some Polish steel and get to work crafting some epic cutscenes.”

While few details about The Witcher 4 have been released in recent months, Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski has predicted that, when all is said and done, more than $800 million will have been spent on the RPG. In his analysis, while Chrzanowski noted that the development itself will likely end up costing CD Projekt around $388 million, marketing and other expenses will add on quite a bit, bringing the overall expenses to beyond the $800 million mark.

Rumors and reports by analysts have also indicated that, as the work on The Witcher 4 continues, CD Projekt RED has plans to bridge the gap between the upcoming RPG and its predecessor by releasing a new DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This DLC is expected to be priced at $30, and will likely end up being the start of a proper marketing push for The Witcher 4.

For more, check out what CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski has to say about the role of generative AI in game development.

Chrzanowski has noted that the actual development price is likely closer to PLN 1.4 billion (roughly $388 million). He also expects CD Projekt to spend a similar amount on its marketing, which will likely bring up its overall expenses to the $800 million mark. He has also offered predictions about the development budget of other CD Projekt titles, such as the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel Project Orion.

He has predicted that Orion‘s development will cost around PLN 1.5 billion (roughly $416 million), with a chunk associated with the rumoured multiplayer game modes. Along with this, the launch window for Orion has also been reportedly pushed back to Q4 2030.

Chrzanowski had previously reaffirmed that the DLC for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is “100 percent” happening. He cites the company’s incentive program being short PLN 700 million (roughly $194 million), which may be met if new paid content for one of CD Projekt’s games is released.

As for the rumours about new The Witcher 3 DLC, Chrzanowski predicts that it will be released in May, and will sell 11 million copies over the next year. He has also predicted a development budget of PLN 52 million (roughly $14.5 million) for this DLC.

While CD Projekt RED is yet to make any DLC announcements, reports have indicated that it will take players to Zerrikania, east of Nilfgaard. Along with this, IGN Poland has also claimed to have known about the DLC for “a very long time”. It is worth noting that these details about the DLC are from early in its development, and that they may have been changed since then. Kovir is noted as another possible location for its story.

Development of The Witcher 4 has been going quietly at CD Projekt RED, with no new details having been revealed in quite some time. Back in December, however, CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski had spoken about the company’s hiring policies, and whether it has been changed because of the rise of generative AI in the IT industry.

“We are not really hiring ‘classic’ IT – but I understand this is supposed to be about gaming industry talent – the availability of talent has perhaps increased a bit over the past three years, but I’m not sure I’d actually ascribe it to AI, to be perfectly honest – some studios have been going through turmoil; there were some project closures and so on, which led to many redundancies in the gaming industry; we’ve all seen that – it’s been very dramatic in many cases – but – literally kill me here, but I don’t recall a single time when it would be attributable directly to AI,” he explained.

He also noted that the company isn’t looking to reduce its headcount due to generative AI anytime soon. Rather, the company’s use of AI largely revolves around “productivity areas”, and he isn’t convinced that the technology can “sit down and make games”.

“That’s our take. It doesn’t mean it’s not gonna be useful, but it’s not gonna be making The Witcher 5, or 6, or anything like that,” he said.

“I’m 100 percent certain CDPR will release significant new content this year, as the incentive program is still 700 million PLN short (about $194.281 million).”

This refers to CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz’s statement in an earnings call following the company’s recent fiscal report. He stated that, “The earnings condition for 2023 to 2026 was set at 2 billion zloty in cumulative net profit. After 11 out of 16 quarters, 700 million zloty still remains to be earned to reach this target.”

While Nielubowicz noted this to be a “very ambitious goal,” the company believed that, “if things go according to our plan, we have a fair chance of reaching it. Given our current progress, there is a chance that new content hinted upon in recent calls and reports may see release in the coming year, having an impact on our results and increasing the likelihood of achieving the earnings condition for the first stage of the incentive program.”

Chrzanowski, who stated last month that the DLC would launch in May for $30, believes this “program” would motivate the company to release it this year because management would benefit from additional shares. It’s also worth noting that alongside “publicly available sources,” he’s reportedly had conversations with CD Projekt RED.

Granted, this doesn’t guarantee that a DLC exists or that it’s actually launching in May, but CD Projekt’s statement on “new content” is hard to ignore. If not for Cyberpunk 2077, which has been the subject of new quality-of-life features rather than “significant new content,” then what else but The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt? Chrzanowski also alleged that it would bridge the gap with The Witcher 4, which isn’t too far-fetched as far as premises go.

Of course, we’ll need to wait for an official announcement, so stay tuned. At the very least, CD Projekt RED does have one “final patch” coming to the game later this year, adding cross-platform mod support.

Let’s back up a bit. “New expansion?” you’re probably asking. It all started back in June 2025 – a time when hype levels were through the roof, and almost anything seemed possible. Polish games insider Borys Nieśpielak said that CD Projekt RED was working on new DLC for The Witcher 3. Consider for a moment that the last expansion for the title was in 2016, and the last time that CD Projekt RED added any new content was with the Complete Edition. And anyone who played that Netflix series tie-in quest can affirm that it’s…actually par for the course when compared to the developer’s other free DLC.

Of course, the months passed, and there was no announcement. Cyberpunk 2077 continued to prove a top seller for the company, and plans for The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 proceeded rather uneventfully. However, last month, Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski revealed that he was also expecting a new DLC for The Witcher 3. No beating around the bush about its scale either, as he estimated it would cost $30, release in May 2026, and – the real kicker – it would connect the title to The Witcher 4.

Now there’s a lot to unpack, but since Chrzanowski also believed that it would serve as the start for The Witcher 4’s marketing push, and that the latter would launch in late 2027, it’s not the most outrageous strategy. Still, there’s more than enough skepticism to go around, even when Nieśpielak reaffirmed to Eurogamer that the DLC is still on track.

But just when you think this case is closed, the insider brought up a rather curious statement by CD Projekt. It occurred during an earnings call following the group’s latest earnings report – the same one where it confirmed plans to release The Witcher 4, 5 and 6 in six years.

Chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz said that the company’s earnings goal for 2023 to 2026 is two billion zloty, which translates to about $556.4 million. With only five quarters remaining, it still needs to earn a whopping 700 million zloty or roughly $197.4 million. Granted, sales of Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty would probably help, but instead, he said something rather curious.

“Given our current progress, there is a chance that new content hinted upon in recent calls and reports may see release in the coming year, having an impact on our results and increasing the likelihood of achieving the earnings condition for the first stage of the incentive program.”

Recent calls? “Reports”? Is this subtly hinting at those rumors that had circulated months prior? It’s hard to say, even more so because Nielubowicz didn’t outright say whether this new content would be coming to Cyberpunk 2077 or The Witcher 3. But there’s plenty of reason to assume it’s the latter.

First, the game’s “final” patch – the one that adds cross-platform mod support – was delayed to this year. The reasons could be innocent enough – after all, even the current-gen update required more time for polish. However, CD Projekt RED didn’t provide any further information – simply an apology and a promise to “share more details closer to the release.” Think back to that same current-gen update and remember how it offered more than just PS5 and Xbox Series X/S support.

Is it too far-fetched to assume that the company is launching a paid expansion alongside its “final” patch, and that this delay allows for both to line up just right? And before you assume that this “new content” is for Cyberpunk, Fool’s Theory, which is working on a remake of the first Witcher, is allegedly in charge of this DLC. CDPR has been working with Virtuos on updates to 2077, specifically for quality of life improvements and new features. Ironically, this could be one way to explain why The Witcher Remake is taking time – it’s because Fool’s Theory is also working on this DLC.

By now, however, it’s seemingly a given that this “new content” will launch in 2026 – the company’s own plans certainly indicate that. “When” is the real question, but as the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and we may see our fair share in the coming months if it’s indeed for The Witcher 3.

There’s the other big question, though: If this DLC indeed connects The Witcher 3 and 4, how will it do so? Mild spoilers follow for those who haven’t achieved the best ending in the former…which involves – last chance to dip out – Ciri becoming a full-fledged Witcher, receiving the Zireael Silver Sword from Geralt to commemorate the occasion.

A journal entry left things fairly open-ended, simply stating, “Where did the witcher and his ward venture, you ask, and what became of them? That, dear reader, is another story.” On the one hand, it could be a new quest-chain that sees the duo properly hunting monsters together, with Ciri becoming playable (and maybe having a few new tricks over the base game).

Perhaps she’ll have to learn first-hand all the perils of being a Witcher – think something along the lines of Geralt’s lesson in choosing the lesser evil, which ultimately led to his reputation as the Butcher of Blaviken. This quest could even form the foundation for Ciri’s new fighting style, presenting scenarios where she may find it more reasonable to use something that accounts for her agility and range (leading to the use of the chain from The Witcher 4 cinematic trailer).

A more daring approach to this DLC could be to set it sometime after The Witcher 3 and focus solely on Ciri. After all, Geralt is retired – CD Projekt RED could look to honor that and focus on what led Ciri to the North. Which isn’t to say that all the other lessons leading to her becoming a more competent Witcher or discovering her own combat style won’t come into play. It just means that Geralt will have a lesser role. An intriguing gamble, especially since this would mean not only abandoning progress made by Witcher 3 players but having to build out a completely new scenario for Ciri, maybe even introducing some new areas.

It ultimately depends on how CD Projekt RED wants to connect the two games, if that is indeed the goal. Either way, with how beloved The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is, and how much bigger the audience has become over the years, a $30 DLC is practically a license to print money for the company. Remember: The base game sold 60 million copies as of May 2025. Even if only a sixth of that buys the DLC, it will be a monumental success (and that’s a conservative view, especially given the conversion rates for Cyberpunk).

As always, however, its existence is teetering on the edge of “too good to be true” and “so crazy that it could very well happen.” If this is indeed Geralt’s final hurrah, then we can’t think of a better way to go out than by passing the torch.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Rumors first began circulating courtesy of Borys Nieśpielak, a Polish games insider. While it may seem far-fetched, he reaffirmed this to Eurogamer, citing “several” independent sources. More importantly, he pointed at a statement from CD Projekt RED’s earnings call after its last financial report, seemingly hinting at the same.

“Given our current progress, there is a chance that new content hinted upon in recent calls and reports may see release in the coming year, having an impact on our results and increasing the likelihood of achieving the earnings condition for the first stage of the incentive program,” said CD Projekt chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz.

Nielubowicz didn’t specifically mention The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (or even Cyberpunk 2077, for that matter), so it’s not a hard confirmation. When prompted for comment by Eurogamer, CD Projekt RED said it doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation, which is par for the course.

However, it does have a “final” patch for The Witcher 3 out this year, which adds cross-platform mod support. Slated for 2025, it faced a delay for mysterious, unknown and, in retrospect, totally not suspicious reasons. If a new DLC is inbound, perhaps it could launch alongside the update?

As for what it could potentially offer, Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski believes it will connect The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 4. He also predicted it would release in May, thus celebrating the original’s 11th anniversary, for current-gen platforms and retail for $30.

Chrzanowski’s predictions indicate that the DLC will be priced at $30, and that it will come to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to celebrate the 11th anniversary of the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—which originally came out on PC, PS4 and Xbox One all the way back on May 18, 2015. This DLC is also expected to properly kick off the marketing push for The Witcher 4, which is expected to come out in late 2027.

It is worth noting that the two major DLCs released for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine—have already wrapped up the majority of the story arc for protagonist Geralt of Rivia. With that in mind, as well as the fact that The Witcher 4 will feature a brand new protagonist in the form of Geralt’s adopted daughter Ciri, this rumoured DLC will likely give us a deeper glimpse at her story, including the kind of training she goes through to become the hardened witcher we saw in the reveal trailer for The Witcher 4.

Fool’s Theory is rumoured to be taking lead on the development of this DLC, since the studio also has several developers that have previously worked on games in The Witcher franchise in the past. CD Projekt RED itself is yet to make any announcement or offer any confirmation about this DLC, however.

As for the remake of the original The Witcher, CD Projekt RED has confirmed that it is slated for release some time after the release of Polaris—the studio’s internal codename for The Witcher 4. In an earnings call, president and joint CEO of CD Projekt Group Adam Kiciński spoke about how the remake will make use of Unreal Engine 5-based technology that was also used in The Witcher 4.

“Coming back to The Witcher Remake and when it will come,” said Kiciński. “Yes, it will come after Polaris, which is a consequence of how we think about this project. I think The Witcher Remake will be based in big part on technologies from Polaris, so it will be developed partially in parallel to Polaris. But once Polaris is launched, everything for Polaris will be then in the final shape, and it will be partially reused in the remake.”

Fool’s Theory CEO Jakub Rokosz has also spoken about the studio’s work on The Witcher remake back in January 2024, where he noted that the studio will be taking out parts of the original title that are considered bad, outdated or “unnecessarily convoluted” by modern gaming standards.

As part of his response, Nowakowski noted that the general availability of IT talent couldn’t really be attributed directly to the use and proliferation of AI. Rather, it comes down to the “turmoil” that other studios have been going through in recent times thanks to various projects getting canceled.

“We are not really hiring ‘classic’ IT – but I understand this is supposed to be about gaming industry talent – the availability of talent has perhaps increased a bit over the past three years, but I’m not sure I’d actually ascribe it to AI, to be perfectly honest – some studios have been going through turmoil; there were some project closures and so on, which led to many redundancies in the gaming industry; we’ve all seen that – it’s been very dramatic in many cases – but – literally kill me here, but I don’t recall a single time when it would be attributable directly to AI,” he explained.

As for the use of AI, he also mentioned that the technology was being used mostly in “productivity areas.” While he didn’t really expand on what this meant, he also noted that the studio wasn’t looking into reducing its headcount thanks to the power of generative AI tools. Rather, he said that AI can’t really replace employees to the point where it can “sit down and make games”.

“At least I don’t know about that. And as for reducing headcount thanks to AI – I don’t imagine that. Our usage of AI is mainly in the productivity areas, and that’s where we see the largest benefits of that. The benefits are real, they’re meaningful, but it’s not a situation – and I’m unaware of such a situation – where AI could ‘sit down and make games,’ he said. “That’s our take. It doesn’t mean it’s not gonna be useful, but it’s not gonna be making The Witcher 5, or 6, or anything like that.”

The use of AI-based tools was recently discussed at length by Larian Studios founder and Divinity director Swen Vincke. Just last week, he had taken to social media to discuss how irresponsible it would have been for the studio if it hadn’t evaluated the new technology and how it could be used in game development. This statement came just days after Vincke came under fire for having spoken about making use of generative AI to help Larian Studios create concept art for the game.

Similarly, Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse Studios co-founder and series director Daniel Vávra had also spoken about the use of generative AI.

The full list of roles that CD Projekt RED are Director of Business Systems Development, Video Team Director at RED Creative Services, Game Capture Lead, Lead VFX Artist, Senior VFX Artist, and Specialist/Senior Narrative Designer for Open World content. While the studio hasn’t confirmed what projects these roles would involve working for, the image accompanying the listings feature The Witcher series protagonist Geralt and Cyberpunk 2077 protagonist V – marking the two major franchises that the studio has under its belt.

Most recently, former senior cinematic artist at Larian Studios – Felix Pedulla – had announced that he had joined CD Projekt RED to work on The Witcher 4. This announcement came after Pedulla had spent quite a few years working on a host of different projects, including Baldur’s Gate 3 and even Hunt: Showdown from his tenure at Crytek.

“After an incredible and frankly wild six-year ride with the amazing team at Larian Studios, a new chapter begins,” wrote Pedulla. “I’m so grateful for every chaotic, creative, and unforgettable moment we shared. We made some serious magic together, and I’ll forever cherish the lessons and memories. A huge thank you to all my incredible colleagues and friends I made.”

“As one adventure ends, another begins! I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I’m joining the legendary team at CD Projekt Red as a Senior Cinematic Designer! The opportunity to contribute to one of the most ambitious studios in the industry is a dream come true. Time to trade in my Baldur’s Gate dice for some Polish steel and get to work crafting some epic cutscenes.”

This expansion of its teams is likely part of CD Projekt RED’s plans to release The Witcher titles at a quicker cadence after the release of The Witcher 4. Co-CEO Michał Nowakowski had recently spoken about this during a CD Projekt Group conference, where he also expressed satisfaction with the studio’s progress with using Unreal Engine 5.

“In a way, yes, I do believe that further games should be delivered in a shorter period of time – as we had stated before, our plan still is to launch the whole trilogy within a six-year period, so yes, that would mean we would plan to have a shorter development time between The Witcher 4 and The Witcher 5, between The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6 and so on,” he said when asked about whether this familiarity with Unreal Engine 5 would mean a faster release cadence for future games.

The Witcher 4 is being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and isn’t expected to show up at the upcoming The Game Awards 2025.