The Witcher 4 is set to be CD Projekt Red’s most ambitious project yet, according to one industry analyst. Mateus Chrzanowski of Noble Securities (via Clawsome Gamer) estimates The Witcher 4’s budget to be approximately $778.9 million (when converted from Zloty), making it more expensive than any of the studio’s games to date.
Chrzanowski believes development costs will total around $389 million, and the rest of the money will be used for marketing. CD Projekt Red is no stranger to breaking the bank on marketing costs — hiring Keanu Reeves to act in and subsequently promote Cyberpunk 2077 can’t have been cheap.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—the game that catapulted CDPR into the pinnacle of AAA development—cost around $81 million to develop, while Cyberpunk 2077 had a substantially higher budget of around $400 million.
Big Budget, Big Expectations
If The Witcher 4 were to cost $800 million, the title would have to be extremely successful to turn a profit. In comparison, Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 reportedly cost $300 million to develop, and there were murmurings that the game possibly didn’t sell well enough to justify that price. However, Spider-Man 2 eventually cleared 16 million units a couple of years after release, which likely represents a substantial profit.
As of May 2025, The Witcher 3 has sold 60 million copies, which is likely why CD Projekt Red is willing to throw massive amounts of money at the sequel. If The Witcher 4 were to reach that number of sales, then a behemoth budget would be justified.
The 12 Year Wait For The Witcher 4 Means It’s Not Really The Witcher 4 Anymore
The Witcher 3 transformed what it meant to be an RPG, but The Witcher 4 will have a tough time living up to it.
We know a surprising amount about The Witcher 4 considering the game isn’t expected to release until late 2027 at the very earliest. We know we’ll be playing Ciri (now voiced by Ciara Berkeley), we know we’re going to explore several new regions including Korvir, and we know Geralt will appear in some fashion as Doug Cockle is reprising his role.
We’ve had a taste of what the gameplay might look like from an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo released by CD Projekt Red, though nothing has been finalised yet.
Although Cyberpunk 2077 is now regarded as one of the greatest RPGs of all time by some, the game launched in an infamously poor state and burned a lot of good will the studio had built-up from The Witcher 3. With this in mind, CD Projekt Red will be eager to ensure The Witcher 4 doesn’t release until it’s absolutely ready.
