The Witcher 4 And Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel Aim To Avoid Past Development Chaos As CD Projekt Red Sets New Production Rules

CD Projekt Red is preparing for its next major era with The Witcher 4 and the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, but the studio is also taking clear steps to avoid the internal production issues that affected some of its biggest previous releases. After the troubled launch of Cyberpunk 2077 and the massive expectations left behind by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the Polish developer is now enforcing stricter requirements to keep future projects better organized, better documented, and more controlled throughout development.

According to comments shared during Digital Dragons and reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, CD Projekt Red has introduced a new internal definition of what it means for work to be considered complete. This new production structure is being applied to both The Witcher 4 and the next Cyberpunk game, with a stronger focus on documentation, milestone gates, and shared developer knowledge.

“We've got some new requirements, especially a new definition of 'done',”
- Adrian Fulneczek

Senior technical writer Adrian Fulneczek explained that the studio’s new requirements are designed to prevent the kind of confusion that can emerge when large teams work across complex open world systems without consistent documentation. For a company building massive role playing games with deep quest design, cinematic storytelling, combat systems, world simulation, and technical pipelines, that kind of structure can become essential.

Technical writer team lead Jarosław Ruciński further explained that every project milestone now ends with a strict gate. To pass that gate, teams must meet documentation requirements, something that was not previously enforced in the same way during the production of older CD Projekt Red titles. This matters because documentation can directly affect how efficiently developers understand systems, continue work from other teams, onboard new staff, and avoid repeating past mistakes. In large scale game development, missing or outdated documentation can create production bottlenecks, miscommunication, and duplicated work. CD Projekt Red is now trying to reduce those risks before they impact The Witcher 4 or the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel.

The studio’s previous games were not immune to this issue. Even The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, now widely considered one of the finest open world role playing games ever made, reportedly experienced development chaos behind the scenes. Cyberpunk 2077 later became the more public example of how ambition, technical complexity, and production pressure can damage a launch when development pipelines do not fully align.

Interestingly, CD Projekt Red already had one internal example of stronger documentation before these new rules were enforced. Ruciński pointed to Gwent: The Witcher Card Game as the studio’s best documented title, despite the fact that its live service structure could have made documentation harder to maintain.

“In a live service environment, which you could argue Gwent was, it is easy to say that you don't have the time to document everything, because the game is changing so fast,” “It receives patches, new content, new balance, every month. So all those documents need to be constantly updated, and somebody has to do that. It is a cost.”
- Jarosław Ruciński

That cost, however, reportedly paid off. Stronger documentation allowed new artists, coders, and designers to contribute more quickly to tasks because they had access to clearer information. In practice, this means documentation did not slow development down. It helped accelerate it by reducing friction between teams and improving production continuity.

For The Witcher 4, these changes are especially important. The game was revealed at The Game Awards 2024, and CD Projekt Red later showed an impressive technology demo that highlighted how the studio plans to take advantage of the generational leap since The Witcher 3. However, the developer has kept detailed gameplay information tightly controlled since then. That silence has only increased curiosity around how the next Witcher entry will evolve the franchise while honoring the legacy of its predecessor.

The Cyberpunk 2077 sequel carries a different type of pressure. Cyberpunk 2077 eventually recovered through major updates, expansions, and technical improvements, but its original launch remains one of the most discussed examples of a high profile game release failing to meet player expectations at launch. Because of that history, CD Projekt Red’s production discipline will be heavily scrutinized as the sequel moves forward.

The studio’s new approach suggests that it understands the stakes. The Witcher 4 and the Cyberpunk sequel are not just new games. They are major trust building projects for CD Projekt Red. Both titles need to prove that the company can still deliver ambitious, technically advanced, narrative driven role playing games while avoiding the organizational problems that hurt past development cycles.

If the new milestone gates, documentation requirements, and stricter definition of completed work function as intended, CD Projekt Red could enter its next era with a more stable production pipeline. For players, that could mean fewer development surprises, more polished launches, and stronger long term confidence in the studio’s biggest franchises.

The real test will come when The Witcher 4 finally receives its full gameplay reveal and when the Cyberpunk sequel begins to show its direction. Until then, CD Projekt Red’s new internal discipline is a positive sign, especially for fans who want the studio’s ambition to remain intact without repeating the chaos of the past.

Do you think CD Projekt Red’s stricter production rules will help The Witcher 4 and the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel avoid the mistakes of the past?