CD Projekt RED has pulled off a move that should put a smile on every fantasy-RPG fan’s face: the studio has hired Felix Pedulla, a key cinematic artist from Baldur’s Gate 3, who has now confirmed that he is joining the team working on Ciri’s upcoming adventure in The Witcher 4.

Fans of fantasy role-playing games have been watching CD Projekt RED closely ever since the studio confirmed that a new The Witcher 4 was in the works. Ciri’s journey, which came close to winning the Most Wanted Game category at the Golden Joystick Awards, is still a long way from launch, and the creators of Cyberpunk 2077 are still shaping the systems and narrative beats that will define this new chapter in Andrzej Sapkowski’s universe. In the meantime, the Polish studio keeps growing its workforce, and we now know it has added someone who helped turn Baldur’s Gate 3 into the massive hit it became after its full release.

The new hire is Felix Pedulla, formerly a senior cinematic artist at Larian Studios, who is joining CD Projekt RED as a senior cinematic designer. The news comes from Pedulla himself, who published a LinkedIn post to bid farewell to the team behind Baldur’s Gate 3 and outline his next step. In his message, he describes an “incredible and wild” six-year journey with Larian, full of chaotic, creative, and unforgettable moments, and says that the team “made magic together,” adding that he will always be grateful for the lessons learned and the friendships built along the way.

He then flips the page and looks ahead: as he puts it, when one adventure ends, another begins, and he is “absolutely thrilled” to be joining the “legendary team at CD Projekt RED” as a Senior Cinematic Designer. For him, the opportunity to contribute to one of the most ambitious studios in the industry is nothing short of a dream-come-true. On paper, his announcement could have pointed to any project tied to Sapkowski’s saga, or even to a future sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, since he never explicitly mentions Ciri’s game in the text of the post.

However, a closer look reveals a crucial detail: one of the hashtags attached to his LinkedIn update references The Witcher 4 directly, which strongly suggests that his cinematic expertise will be focused on CD Projekt’s next fantasy-RPG. For many players, it is reassuring to know that someone who helped shape the cutscenes and storytelling flow of Baldur’s Gate 3 is now lending that experience to Ciri’s adventure. Larian’s RPG became a phenomenon after its full 2023 launch thanks to its branching narrative, memorable cast, flexible combat system, and character-driven camp scenes, and bringing that kind of sensibility into the Witcher universe sounds like a very smart hire.

CD Projekt RED Wants A New Witcher Trilogy In Just Six Years

All of this means that Pedulla is unlikely to run out of things to do at CD Projekt RED any time soon. If everything goes according to the studio’s current roadmap, his cinematic design skills will be used well beyond The Witcher 4. According to the plan outlined by the Polish developer, the goal is to deliver an entirely new Witcher trilogy within a six-year window, an extremely ambitious target that they hope to hit by streamlining production with Unreal Engine 5 and tightening up their internal pipelines.

If that scenario plays out, it would mean that players could expect a hypothetical The Witcher 5 roughly three years after Ciri’s game, followed by a sixth mainline entry three years after that. It is a bold strategy in a market where every big-budget AAA RPG tends to require many years of development, which is why more than a few fans are skeptical that CD Projekt RED will be able to keep up such a fast pace. For now, all we can do is wait for further updates from the studio to see whether it really can deliver on this aggressive schedule, or whether the new trilogy will eventually be pushed back by delays.

Source: 3djuegos