CD Projekt Red confirms Hadar as open-world narrative game with 24-person team
Summary
A job listing provides the first concrete Hadar details since the IP was announced in October 2022.
Only 24 staff are assigned versus 513 on Witcher 4, placing Hadar firmly in early pre-production.
Open-world format and Unreal Engine 5 confirmed, consistent with CDPR's existing technical pipeline.
"An emotional, open-world experience that will stay with gamers"
01
Job listing confirms open-world format and UE5, not a product reveal
The description comes from a Warsaw engineering director posting, not an official announcement.
Two structural choices confirmed: open-world format and Unreal Engine 5.
Narrative immersion is explicitly called out as a design priority.
This is a team-building signal, not a pre-launch signal.
02
Hadar's 24-person team is 21x smaller than Witcher 4's
April 2026 headcount: 24 on Hadar vs. 513 on Witcher 4, 163 on Cyberpunk 2, 83 on Sirius.
Hadar is CDPR's lowest-priority active project by staffing.
Full production likely gated behind shipment of at least one larger project.
No timeline, budget, or milestone data has been disclosed.
03
First original IP stays within CDPR's proven genre formula
"We do certain types of games and I think it's safe to assume that we want to continue to do the games within that kind of genre"
Unlike Witcher and Cyberpunk, Hadar has no pre-existing fan base to de-risk launch marketing.
The conservative genre bet limits downside but narrows differentiation from CDPR's own catalog.
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