CD Projekt Red Expands Project Hadar Team as Gameplay Prototyping Begins

CD Projekt Red has offered another small but meaningful update on Project Hadar, the studio's mysterious original intellectual property first disclosed in 2022. During the company's September 2, 2026 earnings conference, vice president of investor relations Karolina Gnas said the project remains in its concept phase, while the team begins to test ideas and prototype gameplay elements.

The update does not reveal what Project Hadar actually is. CD Projekt Red has not announced its setting, genre, story, gameplay structure, target platforms, or a release window. Yet the studio's comments provide a clearer sense of where the game sits internally: it is no longer simply a name on a long-term slate, but it is still a relatively early production effort compared with the company's headline project, The Witcher 4.

According to Gnas, more than 30 people are currently assigned to Hadar. CD Projekt Red intends to expand that group, with a goal of reaching up to 50 developers by the end of this year. That planned hiring indicates continuing investment in the new IP, even if the project is not close to entering the kind of full-scale development associated with the studio's biggest releases.

Hadar remains a concept-stage project

Gnas characterized Project Hadar as still being in the concept phase during the earnings discussion. That label is important because it establishes the limits of what can reasonably be expected from the game in the near term. Concept work is where a studio settles broad creative direction, assesses technical possibilities, and determines which ideas deserve greater investment. It is an exploratory period rather than a sign that a finished game is approaching.

For a completely new franchise, that process can be especially significant. CD Projekt Red already has established foundations for The Witcher and Cyberpunk, including recognizable worlds, audience expectations, and lessons carried forward from earlier productions. Hadar does not have that inherited framework. The team is building an original IP from the ground up, meaning its earliest decisions could shape not just one game but potentially the identity of a future series.

The company had previously discussed that foundation-building work. At a March 2026 earnings conference, joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said developers had established the foundations for the entirely new IP and were prepared to begin prototyping. The latest remarks suggest that transition is now underway, with the Hadar team actively evaluating different approaches and gameplay possibilities.

Gnas said the current focus is on testing ideas and prototyping some gameplay elements. While that is a restrained update, it is also one of the few direct descriptions CD Projekt Red has given of the project's active development. The studio is not presenting Hadar as a game with locked-in systems or a public-facing feature list. Instead, it is still determining what works before committing substantially more resources.

A measured hiring plan for a long-term original IP

Growing from a team of more than 30 people to as many as 50 by the end of 2026 would be a notable increase for a concept-stage project, but it also shows how modest Hadar's present scale is beside CD Projekt Red's primary production efforts. The developer is not yet staffing the project like one of its flagship open-world releases.

That distinction becomes particularly clear when compared with The Witcher 4. CD Projekt Red has said that nearly 500 people are working on the next mainline Witcher game, which has a targeted 2028 release date. Hadar's prospective 50-person team would therefore remain a fraction of that size, reinforcing the company's view of the project as a longer-range initiative rather than an immediate counterpart to the next Witcher entry.

The new hiring target follows job advertisements posted by CD Projekt Red during the summer. Those listings sought people to help create what the company described as an emotional, open-world experience. The wording was notable, although it did not formally provide a complete description of Hadar or settle every question about its design. CD Projekt Red has a substantial history with large open environments, from the Northern Kingdoms of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to Night City in Cyberpunk 2077, so the phrase naturally attracted attention from players looking for hints about the studio's next universe.

Still, readers should be careful not to treat a hiring phrase as a full announcement. Staffing material can describe ambitions, responsibilities, or a particular development need without explaining the final structure of a game. The clearest official picture remains the one supplied in the earnings conference: a small but expanding team is exploring concepts and prototyping gameplay.

Why prototyping matters at this stage

Gameplay prototyping is often one of the most consequential stages of early game development. Teams can use prototypes to examine the feel of movement, combat, interaction, progression, exploration, artificial intelligence, camera behavior, interface concepts, or countless other systems. Some experiments survive and become central to the final experience. Others are discarded quickly because they do not meet the creative or technical needs of the project.

For Project Hadar, CD Projekt Red has not said which particular mechanics are being tested. There is no confirmation that it will resemble The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, or any other prior CD Projekt Red game. Nor has the developer stated whether the project will use an established formula, pursue a different kind of role-playing experience, or move into another genre altogether.

That uncertainty is part of what makes Hadar interesting. The project represents CD Projekt Red's attempt to develop an in-house property beyond its two most recognized game universes. However, it also means that the road to a public reveal may be lengthy. Before the studio can show a convincing trailer, name a cast, or discuss its world, it will need confidence in the fundamentals that are now being tested.

In other words, the beginning of gameplay prototyping should be viewed as progress, not as a signal that launch-related news is around the corner. A prototype is intended to answer questions. It is not necessarily the polished foundation of a game that has entered its final form.

The Witcher 4 remains CD Projekt Red's central focus

The scale of The Witcher 4 makes the company's current priorities hard to miss. With almost 500 developers associated with that project and a targeted 2028 release date, the next Witcher game is plainly the main production drawing CD Projekt Red's attention and resources. Hadar is progressing alongside it, but it is doing so at a much earlier stage and with a much smaller group.

This does not mean Hadar has been sidelined. On the contrary, the company is planning additional recruitment and continues to mention the IP in investor-facing updates. It means the projects are operating on different timelines. The Witcher team is working toward a stated target, while the Hadar team is still testing the creative and gameplay direction needed to make its new universe viable.

CD Projekt Red has also emphasized that not every milestone for The Witcher 4 is suited to public presentation. Developers have described some of the work as highly technical and stressed a focus on making the game through to release. That general approach offers useful context for Hadar as well. The studio may share infrequent progress reports while internal work continues for years between major announcements.

Patience will be required

Project Hadar was publicly identified in 2022, but its latest update makes clear that the elapsed time since that reveal should not be confused with late-stage development. CD Projekt Red is still in the process of defining a new IP and expanding the team that will carry it forward. With no release date, no announced platforms, and no detailed premise, there is no basis for predicting when players might eventually see it.

The company is also known for working across extended production cycles. Its continuing support for existing worlds illustrates that long-term approach: CD Projekt Red is preparing to release new The Witcher 3 DLC more than a decade after the base game debuted. Meanwhile, its largest future game, The Witcher 4, is currently targeted for 2028. Against that backdrop, Hadar appears positioned as a project for the years beyond the studio's most immediate commitments.

For now, the most concrete takeaway is straightforward. Project Hadar is alive, staffed by more than 30 people, and expected to grow. Its developers have moved into gameplay prototyping, but the game remains in concept development and has not yet been meaningfully unveiled. Fans curious about CD Projekt Red's next original world will have to wait for the experiments now underway to become a clearer creative direction.