CD Projekt Red is expanding its development strategy beyond the one-major-game-at-a-time approach it followed for much of its history. The studio is now working on The Witcher 4, the next Cyberpunk game and Project Hadar, but joint CEO Michał Nowakowski says that does not mean every promising idea can move forward.
In an interview with The Game Business, Nowakowski explained that CD Projekt Red deliberately rejects ideas when it believes the studio cannot give them enough attention. For the company, increasing the number of projects is only useful if it can maintain the quality of the final games.
CD Projekt Red prioritizes focus over taking on more projects
Nowakowski acknowledged that running several major productions simultaneously creates risks. CD Projekt Red has established separate teams with their own leadership and creative direction, but the company still recognizes that there is a limit to how much it can handle.
“There is always a risk,”
Nowakowski said.
“And we actually kill a lot of ideas, because we believe we cannot execute them with a proper focus.”
The decision applies beyond CD Projekt Red’s internally developed games. Nowakowski explained that the company also closely evaluates collaborations and external partnerships before committing its resources. The studio can involve its own employees in those projects to ensure they properly understand the relevant franchise’s story, lore and visual identity.
This approach is particularly important as CD Projekt Red attempts to release more major games without repeating the lengthy development cycles associated with its previous projects. Nowakowski previously explained that the goal is eventually to have two or three games arrive within a relatively short period, rather than making one major title at a time.
However, he warned that simply expanding the company’s output is not the answer.
“We would love to do more,”
Nowakowski said, before emphasizing that CD Projekt Red has a practical limit on how much it can take on.
“Because if we go larger, everything’s going to fall apart,”
he added.
The strategy also helps explain CD Projekt Red’s decision to move away from its proprietary REDengine and adopt Unreal Engine 5. Nowakowski said the change should make it easier for teams to work across multiple projects instead of rebuilding major technological foundations for every new game.
