GAMES Hacker voices38 fixes Onimusha: Way of the Sword startup crash for legitimate players GAMES EA fan builds graveyard of shut-down studios outside office after BioWare closure GAMES CD Projekt RED hires Kingdom Come: Deliverance II lead designer for The Witcher 4 GAMES Star Wars Jedi: Survivor player finds final Easter egg after nearly four years NINTENDO Nintendo Switch 2 revision simplifies repairs with standard Phillips screws ANDROID Alldocube iPlay 80 mini launches in Japan with 8.7-inch display and 4G LTE PC HARDWARE Ubiquiti USW-LR-Switch-8-PoE delivers 800m PoE range but caps speed at 10Mbit/s and power at 13W PLAYSTATION 5 Aniimo update raises level cap to 70 and adds 51 new creatures in Whisperwake Isles GAMES Cyberpunk 2077 Mod Adds Flirt, Provoke, and Challenge Options for NPCs PC HARDWARE Japannext launches 21.5-inch touchscreen monitor with 65W USB-C power delivery for around $222 GAMES Little Nightmares franchise hits 25 million players as Bandai Namco shares celebratory art GAMES Warframe: Tau expansion launches December 2026 with 67th Warframe Brisco GAMES Fortnite Update 43.00 Introduces 80-Player Matches and One Piece Collaboration NINTENDO SWITCH 2 HoYoverse’s Petit Planet heads to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027 after PC and mobile launch

CD Projekt RED hires Kingdom Come: Deliverance II lead designer for The Witcher 4

Lena Fischer 3 comments 2 min read

CD Projekt RED has hired Zbyněk Zelinka, a lead designer from Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, to join The Witcher 4 development team.

CD Projekt RED hires Kingdom Come: Deliverance II lead designer for The Witcher 4
GAMES

CD Projekt RED is going through the changes in its development team for The Witcher 4, with the studio hiring Zbyněk Zelinka as a Senior Gameplay Designer. This is a clear indication that the studio is making an effort to increase its internal expertise ahead of the game's release, expected to happen in 2028. For those eagerly anticipating the next chapter in the Witcher series, it's worth knowing that the studio is actively seeking professionals with proven expertise in the field of open-world design.

Zbynek Zelinka joins CD Projekt RED as Senior Gameplay Designer

Zelinka joins CD Projekt RED with about eight years of experience as Lead Technical Designer at Warhorse Studios under his belt. He was deeply involved in the development of Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its successor Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. CDPR is using his expertise to work on gameplay features for the upcoming game.

The Witcher 4 is being developed with Unreal Engine 5, which is intended to provide better visual quality and simulation features. Zelinka is the third Warhorse Studios expert joining CD Projekt RED. He's following his previous co-workers Karel Kolmann and Zdeněk Glatz, who have moved to the studio.

The development of the project continues. No specific release date has been announced other than 2028. It's clear that the studio depends on experienced professionals to work with modern game engines. This gives us a real understanding of the studio's approach to developing this franchise, in terms of the resources used for it.

Source: IXBT

Related stories

Discussion

3 comments

  1. Ferrite

    Warhorse knows open world. CDPR needs that skill now. The Witcher 4 will finally feel solid. Hiring Zbynek Zelinka is the right move. 8 years at Warhorse is exactly what we need. This isn’t just press fluff. It is a strategic hire. The 2028 release date gives them time to integrate him. I expect better combat mechanics. We will see if the engine supports it.

  2. janky42

    unreal engine 5 is a big leap for them 😅

  3. Tamsin

    Does anyone know if he is working on the combat systems or just the open world traversal? The article mentions gameplay features generally. I am hoping for more realistic physics in the next game.

Leave a comment