The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is undergoing a significant expansion, titled 'Songs of the Past,' over a decade after its initial release. CD Projekt Red is also concurrently developing The Witcher 4. To manage these ambitious projects, the studio is collaborating with Fool's Theory, a company founded by former CD Projekt Red employees.
Jakub Kutrzuba, an executive producer at CD Projekt Red, described the experience of sharing The Witcher 3 with an external studio as intimidating. "Yes, yes it is, because we care very much about what we are doing here," Kutrzuba stated in an interview with PC Gamer. He elaborated on this sentiment by comparing the game to a "baby," and admitting that as a parent, he "also think twice about leaving my baby with someone." However, he expressed confidence in Fool's Theory, adding, "But I know that there are people over there who are not me, who take the best care ever of them, and I think this is the case here."
The existing relationship between CD Projekt Red and key personnel at Fool's Theory, including founder Jakub Rokosz, a senior quest designer at CDPR, has eased the collaboration. "The fact that we have a really long history with many people from Fool's Theory… that helped a lot, because it's not like we needed to really understand the mindset and philosophy, make sure that we operate on the same level and we have the same aspirations," Kutrzuba explained. He noted that this shared understanding of creative goals and development philosophy is crucial for such partnerships.
Kutrzuba highlighted that when seeking partners for future projects, CD Projekt Red looks for studios that share a similar artistic vision and commitment to quality. "There are studios over there like us who care about players, who care about what they are doing. It's not just a business for them. They want to do art. We want to do art, yeah? We consider games as art, and not everyone [does] over there," he said. He stressed that a mutual understanding of abstract concepts like "quality" and "a good story" is essential to avoid tension during development. "If you don't have that, if you have a different understanding of the same terms, it creates a lot of tension during the development," Kutrzuba concluded. "So we are trying to make sure that before we start, we are partnering with people who understand these basic terms the same way as us."