CD Projekt RED has officially revealed the game director for The Witcher 4.
The person named is Sebastian Kalemba, who was lead animator for the studio on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. In the months leading to this promotion, he had been already working as a creative director. He has been with the company since 2014.
So instead of one of the older veterans at the company landing this job, they gave it to someone who earned their stripes at a relatively shorter period of time. More importantly, given his job history within CD Projekt RED, Sebastian has been in crucial roles making creative decisions for the company’s most recent games, and he himself has been growing as a game developer in that capacity.
Sebastian shared this message in a tweet:
“Career news: I’m directing the new Witcher Saga. Since joining CD Projekt RED I believe nothing is impossible and raising the bar, telling emotional stories & creating worlds is what we’re here for. I’m proud to be part of CDPR and work with such a talented and passionate team.”
Now it’s worth taking a few minutes to understand what Sebastian’s job exactly is. Are game directors similar to film directors? The answer to that would be no, as this position does not have a set job description. Some AAA games don’t even have anyone named as game directors.
Unlike the film industry, where there are clear tasks and responsibilities assigned to positions like executive producer or film director, the game industry plays a bit loose with their corporate structure. Subsequently, job titles and their descriptions may vary across game companies. In this essay called “The Door Problem”, Liz England describes the way game companies organize themselves as finding out what doors to open, and then deciding to assign specific people to those doors.
In the case of Sebastian, he was working as creative director in the company. This meant he was making crucial decisions on game design, choices such as what levels were going to be made or what story beats would be written in. This could also meant he needed to have some familiarity with the technical aspects of the job as well. As CD Projekt RED deems game director as a promotion from that position, Sebastian is in the position now where he doesn’t just get to make decisions on The Witcher 4, but the total trilogy of The Witcher games that starts with The Witcher 4.
CD Projekt RED talked up their plans to make not just a fourth game, but a series of games, in their recent announcements for The Witcher franchise. Last March they referred to it as a saga of games, and then in September CDPR president and CEO Adam Kiciński declared it would be a trilogy.
It certainly sounds like Adam and CDPR management already made their key decisions for the future of The Witcher at that point, and that included their new game director.
Source: VideoGamesChronicle
