CD Projekt RED keeps hunting for the best talent in the RPG world — and once again, they’ve looked toward the Czech Republic. In May 2026, it was confirmed that Zdeněk Glatz, one of the lead designers behind the Kingdom Come: Deliverance series, has officially joined CDPR as Senior Open World Designer on The Witcher 4.
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Who Is Zdeněk Glatz: 9 Years at Warhorse Studios and the Craft Behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s Best Quests
Glatz spent roughly nine years at Prague-based Warhorse Studios. He joined back in 2017 as a designer and writer on the original Kingdom Come: Deliverance, working on the game’s polish and the narrative of its story DLC. From 2021 onward, he became one of the key architects of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 — overseeing quest development, the overall story structure, and level design.
If you’ve played KCD 2 and found yourself genuinely surprised by how naturally the quests fit into the historical world — how nothing feels like a checklist — that’s largely his doing. Glatz built a reputation for nonlinear storytelling that lives inside the game world rather than being triggered on top of it.
His Role in The Witcher 4: What a Senior Open World Designer Actually Does at CD Projekt RED
At CDPR, Glatz has taken on the position of Senior Open World Designer. It’s not a decorative title. The person in that role is responsible for how the world of The Witcher 4 feels from the inside — how alive it is, how rewarding it is to simply explore, and how space serves the story rather than just filling the map.
Glatz himself hasn’t shared any details. His LinkedIn post was a banner image with a single line: “I’m happy to share that I’ve joined CD Projekt Red.” No hints, no teases. NDA is NDA.
CDPR and Kingdom Come: Deliverance — This Is Already the Second Warhorse Developer to Join The Witcher 4 Team
Here’s the part that makes this more than just a routine hire: Zdeněk Glatz is the second Warhorse Studios developer to join the Witcher 4 team. Before him, Karel Kolmann — another writer and level designer from the Kingdom Come series — made the same move, landing the role of Quest Designer at CDPR.
This isn’t a coincidence. CD Projekt RED is deliberately pulling people with Kingdom Come: Deliverance DNA into their team. And it makes sense: KCD 2 became one of the most influential RPGs of this decade, praised for the depth of its world, its combat systems, and — crucially — its level design. CDPR clearly sees Warhorse as a blueprint for the kind of open world they want to build.
The Witcher 4 in 2026: $390M Budget, 499 Developers, and a Release No Earlier Than 2027
The Witcher 4 — internally codenamed Project Polaris — was officially announced at The Game Awards in December 2024. The lead character is Ciri, not Geralt. According to CDPR, she’s the “organic, logical choice” to carry the next chapter.
Here’s where development stands right now:
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Engine: Unreal Engine 5 — a first for the franchise
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Approach: Console-first development, learning directly from Cyberpunk 2077’s troubled launch
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Team size: Approximately 499 developers as of March 2026
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Budget: Estimated at around $390 million for development alone
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Release window: No earlier than 2027
Full production only kicked off in November 2024, meaning the game has been in active development for about a year and a half. For a AAA project of this scale, that’s still early days.
Which Kingdom Come: Deliverance Developers Have Moved to CDPR — and What They’re Working On
Why Glatz Joining CDPR Is a Genuinely Good Sign for The Witcher 4
For anyone tracking The Witcher 4’s development, this isn’t just a hiring announcement buried in a LinkedIn feed. Each specialist CDPR brings on tells you something about the direction of the project.
The studio has been aggressive about talent acquisition. Alongside the two Warhorse veterans, the team now includes a cinematic animator from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and a new AI Director who spent eight years building RPGs at BioWare. CDPR is assembling people who know how to make worlds feel real — not just look it.
No release date has been set for The Witcher 4. All signs point to 2027 at the earliest. But the caliber of talent being brought in suggests this one is being built to last.
