CD Projekt shares slump after it says 'Witcher IV' won't come out in 2026

GDANSK (Reuters) - Shares of CD Projekt fell nearly 13% in early trading on Wednesday after the game developer said the premiere of "Witcher IV" was scheduled for after 2026, fuelling fears of an even longer wait for the new instalment in the blockbuster series.

Analysts had previously said they expected the game to debut anywhere between 2026 and 2028.

"The Witcher IV", developed under code name Polaris, is the first instalment in a new trilogy expanding the universe of CD Projekt's blockbuster medieval fantasy franchise that has sold more than 75 million copies to date.

Finance chief Piotr Nielubowicz said the video game maker would not announce a precise launch date yet, but indicated the post-2026 timeframe "to give more visibility to investors".

The confirmation that the game will not be released before 2027 is "not a big surprise", analyst Grzegorz Balcerski from Trigon said in a note, adding the brokerage's previous forecast assumed a premiere in the second quarter of 2027.

Shifting expectations for the premiere beyond 2026 may also raise speculation that the game might debut even after 2027, considering postponements of new releases are common in the industry, Balcerski added.

"Lack of management confidence to commit to 2027 should also disappoint, even though we believe that the actuary assumptions used in the annual report suggest that this is currently the internal base case," JPMorgan analysts said in a note.

The stock was down 11% as of 0940 GMT, on track for its biggest one-day drop in two years and the worst performer on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index.

Up to Tuesday's close, it was up 20% since the beginning of 2025.

CD Projekt said in November that "Witcher IV" had entered full-scale production. The company's joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said at the time that it typically takes five to six years to develop a big ticket AAA game from the time early ideas are first discussed.

It had announced the works on the new "Witcher" saga back in March 2022.

(Reporting by Adrianna Ebert, editing by Milla Nissi)