Cyberpunk 2077 Was Just A "Warm-Up" For The Next Game
14.01.2024 - 16:45
/ thegamer.com
/ Igor Sarzyński
A CD Projekt Red dev says that Cyberpunk 2077 was "just a warm up", as development on the sequel begins. Now in a new office, narrative director Igor Sarzyński says that the team is going to "kickstart" work on the next game, which is currently known as Project Orion.
This comes as Cyberpunk 2077's ongoing development has more or less come to an end, with no new features planned for the game. The last update, released back in December, added the long-requested metro feature, but it will be the last major patch as CDPR looks towards the future.
"First day in the Boston office! So good to meet old friends and officially kickstart our Orion journey," says Sarzyński on Twitter, as spotted by PC Gamer. "I couldn't be more excited for this project and I'm sure we can make it something special. 2077 was just a warm-up."
While it comes from a lighthearted comment about returning to the office, saying that 2077 was a "warm-up" is a bold statement indeed. It was announced in 2012, before launching to widespread backlash in 2020. Over the past few years, the studio has rebuilt its reputation with free updates, bringing Cyberpunk 2077 closer to the game that was shown off in previews. We also got a paid expansion through Phantom Liberty, that made the most of the overhauled RPG mechanics.
So, if CDPR is planning to go even bigger in the sequel, then we almost definitely have a long wait ahead of us. That's especially true if the company wants to avoid another disastrous launch, as it was said that developers on the game wanted more time, and warned that it wouldn't be ready for its 2020 release date.
Of course, CDPR also has a lot of other games in the works right now. The next instalment in The Witcher series in also in development, with the last game having launched in 2015. CDPR has actually applied some of what it learned from Cyberpunk 2077's launch to this game, saying that it will spend more time on the console ports. This is after the console releases of Cyberpunk 2077 performed exceptionally poorly, far more prone to performance issues and crashes. Hopefully, none of these teams are being rushed or crunched this time around, and we'll really get the games when they're ready.