As Cyberpunk 2077 reaches an amazing sales milestone, CD Projekt RED reveals a big update for the next Witcher game

[Windows Central]

Cyberpunk 2077 has sold over 30 million copies. Meanwhile, the next Witcher game is in full production.

As Cyberpunk 2077 reaches an amazing sales milestone, CD Projekt RED reveals a big update for the next Witcher game : Read more

 

[GraniteStateColin]

This is the next game I'm most looking forward to. I think the Witcher 3 was the best game I ever played -- the story, the character depth, just perfection -- until Cyberpunk 2077 came along and took that crown surpassing The Witcher 3 at everything that made that game great (even before all the fixes, I still thought it was an upgrade from The Witcher 3).

So does anyone here who knows more about AAA game development than I do know what this likely means for a release window? How much time is usually spent in full-production vs. preproduction? Is there a common ratio? Is there a post-production period that occurs after the full-production phase completes?

IIRC, in 2022, CDPR said no sooner than 3 years, which would be no sooner than 2025. So assuming they don't quite hit that, is sometime in 2026 a likely release window, or is that still being overly optimistic based on what little we know?