No one will be surprised to learn that CD Projekt has spent a lot of time thinking about how it can avoid making the same mistakes as Cyberpunk 2077 in its upcoming Witcher, currently codenamed Project Polaris. Michal Nowakowski, the joint CEO of CD Projekt, told Eurogamer that part of this was to be "smarter" in future marketing campaigns and announcements.
"To be honest," said he, "when we launched the marketing campaign with pre-orders [which was the Keanu moment, at E3 in July 2019], the original plan was to launch the game about a year later. It didn't work. We didn't plan for a two-year promotional campaign and I still believe that one year is enough time to promote that game."
The company has confirmed that The Witcher 4 production is now complete, but it will not reveal much more information about it until it's "really, really sure" of the date. Now that we have better tools, I believe we can be more certain of the date. We proved this to ourselves on a smaller scale with Phantom Liberty.
The well-received Cyberpunk 2077 expansion was released six months before the game's release date, which allowed for ample marketing time. Nowakowski stated that "for a brand new game, we'd still expect a slightly more lengthy campaign, but not two years".
CD Projekt will not be silent about The Witcher 4 before its release date. It won't be as intense as the trailers and demos that preceded Cyberpunk 2088. Nowakowski clarified that the marketing campaign, which is slightly earlier before the launch of Cyberpunk 2088, is different from the actual'mass assault'. Mass attack is the moment when you announce the launch date, start collecting pre-orders, and you are in a race to launch the game.
Between now and when CD Projekt announces a release date, expect a light dusting of promotional material rather than a full blown storm. Nowakowski says, "we'll be dropping crumbs here and then so that people, and the media, can pick it up and figure out what we're trying this time to say."
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