CD Projekt studio head Adam Badowski mentioned throughout an traders presentation as we speak that the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 is formally underway, however nonetheless very, very early within the course of.
Phantom Liberty would be the one and solely enlargement to Cyberpunk 2077, which is each good and unhealthy information: Unhealthy as a result of, now that it is lastly all squared away, we would like extra Cyberpunk 2077, however good as a result of it means the main focus has shifted to the full-scale sequel, introduced in October 2022 as Undertaking Orion. However—and actually, this could come as no shock—anybody hoping to get their fingers on it anytime quickly ought to in all probability mood their expectations.
“We determined to not develop any extra add-ons for CP2077, however reasonably to start out designing a full sequel to the sport underneath the Undertaking Orion codename,” CD Projekt Crimson studio head Adam Badowski defined through the presentation. “This undertaking is on the conceptual design degree proper now, and it should be designed by a staff of veterans who have been chargeable for designing Cyberpunk 2077 and designing Phantom Liberty.”
For now, engaged on the sport is happening in CD Projekt’s Vancouver and Boston studios—”Crew management is already there,” Badowski mentioned—and the goal for “late in 2024” is to have half the event staff figuring out of the US, and half from Poland.
It took greater than eight years from the time Cyberpunk 2077 was introduced till it was really launched, and practically three years past that earlier than it turned the sport that everybody’s now raving about. On one hand, that is not a wholly uncommon size of improvement time for a big-budget videogame—Grand Theft Auto 5 got here out in 2013 and the sequel hasn’t even been correctly introduced but—however it does imply that if Orion improvement requires an analogous stretch, we will not be taking part in it till someday after 2030. It could not: CD Projekt is switching to Unreal Engine 5 for its future video games, which can presumably take some weight off its shoulders on the tech facet. However given the inherent unpredictability of recreation improvement, perhaps it is best not to consider that an excessive amount of.
Fortuitously for diehard followers, CD Projekt additionally has large plans for the Cyberpunk 2077 franchise past simply the following recreation within the collection. “Everytime you think about us, you consider us as recreation builders,” Chief business officer Michał Nowakowski mentioned. “That is true, however that is not the complete reality. We wish to be widespread tradition builders.”
Novakowski mentioned recreation improvement will stay on the “core” of CD Projekt, however the studio desires to broaden the Cyberpunk 2077 franchise, and its income streams, past that. The Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime is the obvious instance of that effort, however there’s additionally been music based mostly on the video games, a novel, comedian books, and numerous bits of merchandise.
“We will see much more within the time between the Phantom Liberty launch and the Orion undertaking launch—the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077,” Nowakowski mentioned.
A kind of in-between efforts has already been revealed: CD Projekt additionally introduced as we speak that it is working with Nameless Content material on a Cyberpunk 2077 “live-action undertaking.” Novakowski mentioned through the presentation that extra particulars on that undertaking will likely be shared “as they turn out to be obtainable.”
CD Projekt additionally introduced as we speak that it has offered greater than 100 million copies of its major video games: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Cyberpunk 2077. Not unhealthy.