CD Projekt Red Says The Witcher 4’s Quality Comes Before Its Budget
Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said fan expectations will guide development even as the studio keeps spending under control.
CD Projekt Red is putting a clear limit on what cost-cutting can dictate for The Witcher 4. Joint CEO Michał Nowakowski said the sequel’s quality and its ability to meet fan expectations will come before the budget conversation, even as the studio stays careful with spending.
Quality comes before cost at CD Projekt Red
Speaking with The Game Business, in comments also covered by Eurogamer, Nowakowski described CDPR as cost-conscious before drawing a line between managing expenses and compromising the game. “We are cost-conscious… But the first thing is whether the quality we’re meeting is there, period,” he said. He added that the team is checking whether it is meeting fan expectations for the next installment throughout development.
Grand Theft Auto 6 was his comparison point. Nowakowski argued that a development process driven mainly by cost could not produce a game like The Witcher 4. He also said he was completely certain GTA 6 was not developed around that model.
His point was about the nature of a large AAA production. Such games demand time, money, and labor, while the choices made during development affect what eventually reaches players. For CD Projekt Red, reducing expenses cannot come at the expense of the quality expected from the next Witcher game.
Cyberpunk 2077 remains the cautionary example
Cyberpunk 2077 is the reason the promise carries extra weight. CD Projekt Red’s sci-fi open-world game launched with game-breaking bugs, graphical glitches, screen tearing, broken NPC AI, and especially rough performance on PS4 and Xbox One. Refund demands followed, and CDPR suspended sales while it worked on the problems.
The game later recovered commercially, passing 40 million copies sold, but the launch still affects trust in the studio. Nowakowski has said fans are not fully over what happened, so a clean start for The Witcher 4 is about more than sales. It is also about proving CDPR can deliver the quality it is promising.
Before the next mainline game, CD Projekt Red is returning to The Witcher 3. A free remastered version is planned for later in September, bringing improved visuals, streamlined combat and inventory systems, plus other quality-of-life changes for current consoles.
CDPR also has Songs of the Past on its slate, a DLC expansion that will add around 20 hours of gameplay in Letten, a seemingly peaceful region in northern Redania. Geralt will uncover dark family secrets and face supernatural horrors there. Fool’s Theory, a Polish studio with many former CDPR developers, helped bring the project back after a couple of happy accidents led to shelved ideas being revisited. The expansion was shown at Gamescom in Cologne.
For The Witcher 4, the standard Nowakowski described is clear. CD Projekt Red wants its next major RPG to be judged first by how well it meets quality and fan expectations, not by how little it costs to make.
Do you think CD Projekt Red’s quality-first approach can help The Witcher 4 avoid the mistakes of Cyberpunk 2077? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
The Witcher IV
Developed by CD Projekt RED
