CD Projekt says physical boxes remain part of its plans and AI will stay a tool rather than the maker of complete games, but discs and final formats still depend on platform holders.
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CD Projekt is setting boundaries where players are most skeptical
CD Projekt has now made two unusually direct commitments in areas that sit close to player trust: it says it has no intention of abandoning physical releases, and it says it is not planning to rely on AI to make complete games.
The physical-release comments came from CD Projekt Red joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski in a Gamescom 2026 interview with Game Developer. Nowakowski said CDPR has an “affinity” for physical products and, if it has the option, wants to keep putting out boxes that feel worthwhile. Separately, during CD Projekt’s first-half 2026 earnings call, as reported by Twisted Voxel from the company’s call, CD Projekt said AI is becoming relevant to development but that its plan is still to use people predominantly.
Those are confirmed company positions. The tension is that neither statement gives players a clean guarantee. CD Projekt can commit to a box, but Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo control console physical-media manufacturing. CD Projekt can say AI will remain a tool, but it has not published a granular policy describing every permitted or prohibited AI use across its pipelines. The story, then, is less about nostalgia or tech panic and more about how CD Projekt is trying to define its side of the bargain before The Witcher 4 development enters its next public phase.
A box is promised, but a disc is not entirely CD Projekt’s call
Nowakowski’s physical-media comments were explicit about CD Projekt’s intent and equally explicit about its limits. Game Developer reported that he said platform holders control the manufacturing of physical media, including Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo. His point was blunt: CDPR cannot simply manufacture console discs outside those systems if first parties stop making them or if hardware ships without disc drives.
That distinction matters because the current debate is not whether CD Projekt likes physical goods. The company says it does. The question is whether future console ecosystems still support the object players traditionally mean when they say “physical release”: a box containing a usable disc. Game Developer framed Nowakowski’s comments in the context of Sony’s announced plan to end production of physical PlayStation software in 2028. IGN also reported Nowakowski’s acknowledgement that CD Projekt has no influence over first-party policies and that, if PlayStation discs are no longer manufactured, CD Projekt would not have a disc to include.
What CD Projekt is promising is a physical product. What it cannot promise, based on these comments, is that every future console edition will include a game disc. Game Developer reported that Nowakowski suggested the disc could, depending on circumstances, be replaced by a download code. That is a real compromise. It keeps the ritual and collector value of a boxed release alive, but it changes the ownership and preservation equation for players who specifically want installable media.
CD Projekt’s boxed-release history is doing a lot of work here
The reason CD Projekt physical releases carry weight with players is that the company has previously treated standard editions like collector-facing packages. Game Developer pointed to The Witcher 3’s standard physical release, which included a physical map, stickers, a CD soundtrack, a lore compendium, a manual, and the game disc. IGN also noted that Cyberpunk 2077’s standard edition included items such as stickers, a map, a developer letter, and postcards.
That history gives Nowakowski’s latest comments a concrete reference point. When he says CD Projekt wants to make a box “worth your while,” players can compare that to prior CD Projekt RED games rather than to a vague marketing promise. The company’s stated preference is not simply to keep a plastic case on shelves. It is to preserve the idea that opening the package has value.
The strategic risk is that a code-in-a-box product can be judged in two different ways. Collectors may still value maps, postcards, lore material, and other tangible extras. Players who buy physical games for lending, resale, offline installation, or long-term access will care much more about whether a disc is included and whether the disc contains a playable build. CD Projekt’s comments answer the first group more fully than the second, because the second question depends on platform policy and final SKU decisions that have not been announced.
The AI stance is a labor and authorship signal, not a ban on tools
CD Projekt’s AI comments land in the same trust zone from a different direction. According to Twisted Voxel’s report on CD Projekt’s first-half 2026 earnings call, the company was asked whether technologies such as AI are generating efficiency gains across development. CD Projekt acknowledged that AI is “definitely becoming a thing” in game development, but said it is still “predominantly using people” and that this remains the plan.
The company also framed AI as a tool rather than a replacement for development teams. Twisted Voxel quoted CD Projekt as saying AI can help in specific places and may become more useful in the future, while also reporting the company’s direct statement that it is “not planning to rely” on AI making complete games. CD Projekt added that, for complex games like its own, it does not think that is the right or ethical path.
That is a meaningful boundary, but it should not be inflated into something CD Projekt did not say. The company did not say it will never use AI. It did not provide a detailed public breakdown of AI use in writing, art, localization, QA, tooling, animation, voice workflows, or production management. The confirmed claim is narrower and still important: CD Projekt says human developers remain central, and AI is being treated as one tool among many rather than the creator of full games.
The staffing numbers make the human-led claim testable over time
The human-led development message is backed, at least in broad terms, by the size of CD Projekt’s active teams. Twisted Voxel reported that CD Projekt currently has 1,045 developers across its projects, with The Witcher 4 accounting for the largest team at 519 developers. Cyberpunk 2 was reported as the second-largest major team, with 184 developers, and CD Projekt said that team had grown over the prior three months.
The same report said Project Hadar remains in concept with more than 30 developers and is expected by CD Projekt to grow to around 50 by the end of 2026. Project Sirius remains in pre-production, with CD Projekt describing it as a multiplayer-focused project where the team is testing solutions and learning because it differs from the company’s other work.
For players watching Witcher 4 development, these numbers matter because they set expectations for how CD Projekt is allocating risk. A 519-person team suggests CD Projekt is not positioning its next flagship RPG as an AI-produced shortcut. It is still building around a large human organization, with AI discussed as assistance rather than substitution. The unanswered question is whether that approach improves predictability, quality control, and creative consistency once the game moves closer to launch. The company’s comments establish intent; the shipped game will be the proof.
The player guidance is simple: read the final listings carefully
There is no need to treat CD Projekt’s statements as empty. On physical releases, the company is saying the thing collectors want to hear: if it can make a boxed product, it plans to. On CD Projekt AI, the company is also drawing a line many players have asked publishers to draw: its complex RPGs are still meant to be made predominantly by people, not generated wholesale by machine systems.
But the practical buying advice is to wait for exact product language. A future Witcher 4 box could be a disc release, a code-in-a-box release, or a collector-style package whose contents vary by platform and region. The current reporting does not confirm price, final platform SKUs, box contents, upgrade paths, or whether any disc version would contain a fully playable build without large downloads. Those details will come from official store pages, publisher announcements, and packaging disclosures closer to release.
For now, CD Projekt is trying to protect two parts of its identity at once: the studio that still values tangible boxed games, and the studio that says its major RPGs will remain human-led despite the industry’s rush toward AI efficiency. That is a smart long-term trust play. It also creates a clear standard players can hold the company to when The Witcher 4 and future CD Projekt RED games move from statements to products.