In a brand new interview with Aftermath CDPR’s Pawel Sasko, affiliate director of the following Cyberpunk sport (codenamed Orion, however we’ll name it Cyberpunk 2 for now), mentioned a number of the modifications in manufacturing the studio’s made because the infamously botched Cyberpunk 2077 launch. The crunch within the run-up to launch received so intense that some key group members left CDPR shortly after the sport’s launch, and the then-CEO needed to difficulty an apology to workers after saying the state of affairs was “not that unhealthy.”
Sasko speaks to a number of the inner modifications CDPR has made following these experiences, earlier than speaking briefly concerning the studio’s two largest future tasks. Sasko says Polaris aka Witcher 4 is presently being “intensively labored on” whereas the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 is within the “pretty early levels.”
CDPR first introduced a challenge referred to as Polaris in October 2022. In March 2023 the corporate’s then-CEO Adam Kiciński let the cat out of the bag on an earnings name. “We need to launch three huge Witcher video games inside six years,” mentioned Kiciński on the time, “ranging from the discharge of Polaris, which is Witcher 4.”
At the beginning of 2024, CDPR’s joint CEO Adam Badowski mentioned that manufacturing could be ramping up, and “we might wish to have round 400 folks engaged on [Polaris] by the center of the 12 months.” That is a giant group, however due to some 2023 quarterly outcomes we already knew CDPR had round 300 folks engaged on the challenge final 12 months, so this sport has been nicely and really underway for some time now.
Cyberpunk 2’s being developed throughout three studios (Boston, Poland, and Vancouver), and “most managers and most administrators who labored on Cyberpunk and Phantom Liberty are on Cyberpunk [2],” mentioned Sasko. “We need to be sure that complete DNA is preserved and nonetheless within the sport.”
Sasko additionally spoke briefly about CDPR’s choice, which was not universally fashionable, to maneuver on from Cyberpunk 2077 after the well-received Phantom Liberty. You’ll be able to see either side right here. Phantom Liberty marked the top of the sport’s redemption arc, and is arguably nearly as good an endpoint as Cyberpunk 2077 may’ve hoped for. Then again, gamers needed to wait a while for the sport to achieve this stage of polish and high quality, and settle for the outright cancellation of issues just like the multiplayer ingredient.
“Once you have a look at our expansions we’ve completed earlier than, we’ve Witcher 3, and there was Hearts of Stone, which shipped half a 12 months after launch, and then you definately had Blood and Wine, which shipped a 12 months after launch,” mentioned Sasko. “Phantom Liberty shipped nearly three years after launch. A bit much less. Engaged on one other growth would imply years of manufacturing once more, proper?”
The developer factors out that, whereas the sport could have solely been out for round three years by the point of Phantom Liberty, most of the employees engaged on it had been on Cyberpunk 2077 for “4 and a half or 5 years” earlier than that. “I like the truth that we went into constructing one other sport,” mentioned Sasko. “I believe it is time to transfer on… we made positive to present gamers further issues even in patch 2.1, the metro system, hangouts, in order that we gave gamers what they have been asking for. However there’s a second when you recognize that story has been advised and it is time to inform one other one.”
CDPR definitely has sufficient new tasks to go round. Polaris isn’t just concerning the Witcher 4, however a brand new trilogy of video games, with Adam Kiciński in 2022 describing it as “the second Witcher saga”. Alongside this there are Mission Sirius and Mission Canis Majoris, two standalone Witcher tasks, then there’s Cyberpunk 2 and, as if all that wasn’t sufficient, each the brand new Witcher video games and Cyberpunk are deliberate to have multiplayer parts. Then there’s Hadar, which CDPR has once more been speaking about for years with out actually saying a lot. If that every one sounds reasonably exhausting, spare a thought for the builders.
