With support for Cyberpunk 2077 having finally ended, CD Projekt RED is moving on to its next projects, and while it looks like The Witcher 4 will take precedence as it enters full production later this year, work on the next Cyberpunk game is also underway.
In November, it was revealed that the game was in the “conceptual design” stage of production, and though it will remain in those early stages for a while yet, things will continue to ramp up nonetheless. Speaking recently with Reuters, CD Projekt CD Projekt CEO Adam Badowski said that the sequel, codenamed Orion, will have around 80 people working on it by the end of this year. Interestingly, co-CEO Michal Nowakowski also said that CDPR was considering multiplayer elements for the sequel, but did not go into further details.
CD Projekt first began development on a standalone Cyberpunk multiplayer experience back in 2019, but reports emerged in 2021 that the project had been cancelled, with the studio confirming later that it had chosen to focus its efforts on fixing and improving the base game after its tough launch, which meant multiplayer had to be shelved. Nonetheless, CDPR has said that multiplayer elements will be introduced to both Witcher and Cyberpunk franchises in the future.
It’s been previously confirmed that Cyberpunk 2 will be directed by Gabe Amatangelo, who led the charge on Cyberpunk 2077’s turnaround, and also directed its acclaimed expansion, Phantom Liberty. The game will be developed by CD Projekt RED’s newly-established wing of North American studios, which will also include several core members of the first game’s development team. At full strength, the game is expected to have 350-500 people working on it, though presumably, it will be a while before it gets to that stage.
