Even as the industry continues to shift to a more multiplayer-centric approach, there are still major developers in the industry who stick to single player experiences, and see major success in that field. One of the top names that comes to mind when one thinks of single player experiences is, of course, CD Projekt RED.
Their upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 promises to be another epic open world RPG, but as has been hinted at in the past, CDPR are still looking into multiplayer possibilities. When asked by Eurogamer if Cyberpunk 2077 would have a multiplayer component, the game’s senior concept artist Marthe Jonkers said that that is something the studio is looking into. The game itself will launch with its single player component only, and if CDPR can find a way to fit multiplayer into the experience in a way that makes sense, they might add it in later.
“We are doing R&D into multiplayer but we’re focusing on single-player experience, and that’s what you’ll get in 2020 when Cyberpunk 2077 ships,” said Jonkers. “It doesn’t mean we’re saying no multiplayer, but it doesn’t mean we’re saying yes either. It’s still an R&D phase.
“If you add multiplayer functions it has to be right. Immersion is super important for us and we have to make sure everything fits together. The single-player experience, it all fits together. We’re not just going to slap some [multiplayer] feature in and that’ll be it.”
“It’s possible if it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit,” he continued. “We would never make anything that’s not at least The Witcher standard for Cyberpunk 2077. I don’t know what the future holds but we will make sure everything we make will be high quality.”
Cyberpunk 2077 is out on April 16, 2020 for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and – as was recently announced – on Stadia as well. CDPR recently released bunch of new 4K screenshots from the game. Take a look through here.