CD Projekt Red Is Working on Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel

Cyberpunk 2077 may have had the most disastrous game launch of all time, but that isn’t stopping its developer, CD Projekt Red, from creating a sequel. 

On Tuesday, the Polish game studio announced(Opens in a new window) plans for a follow-up to Cyberpunk 2077 that’s currently codenamed “Orion.” The sequel will arrive after CD Projekt Red releases three new titles for its hit fantasy RPG series The Witcher. 

In a video(Opens in a new window) for investors, the company’s joint CEO Adam Kicinski described Orion as a game “that will fully unleash the potential that this universe offers.”

(Credit: CD Projekt Red)

The news may be a little surprising, since Cyberpunk 2077 originally launched in December 2020 to widespread disappointment. The sci-fi shooter not only suffered from game-breaking bugs, especially on the console versions, but also failed to meet the hype(Opens in a new window). However, since then, CD Projekt Red has released a steady number of patches to not only fix the bugs, but to improve the game experience. 

(Credit: CD Projekt Red)

Now Cyberpunk 2077 has become one of the most played PC titles on Steam, according(Opens in a new window) to third-party tracker SteamDB. The Netflix anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which is set in the same universe, may have also helped drive the game’s recent popularity. In addition, Kicinski noted that total sales for Cyberpunk 2077 have reached 20 million copies, up from 13 million back when the game was first launched. 

The Road Ahead for The Witcher

The developer announced the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequel as it laid out its corporate strategy, which includes addressing the studio’s plan for a new slate of Witcher games.  

One of the upcoming Witcher titles, codenamed Sirius, is coming from CD Projekt Red’s studio in Boston called The Molasses Flood(Opens in a new window). This game is set in the Witcher universe, but is targeted at a “broader audience,” and will offer both a single-player and multiplayer experience. A second title will come from an external studio. 

(Credit: CD Projekt Red)

The third Witcher game, dubbed Polaris, will be a direct follow-up to the previous trilogy of Witcher titles. “There will be three games in this saga, and we aim to deliver them over a six-year period, starting from the release of Polaris,” said Kicinski.

“It’s a bold statement as we are talking about three large-scale productions, but we really mean it and we have a plan on how to achieve it,” he added. To pull this off, he said the second and third game in the new trilogy will benefit from the gaming foundations Polaris will lay down. The studio is also tapping Unreal Engine 5 to create Polaris.  

Nevertheless, CD Projekt Red is signaling it’ll develop the new Witcher titles alongside Cyberpunk 2077. In one presentation slide, the company notes it’ll embark on “Parallel AAA Development” starting this year. To do so, the studio plans on expanding its game studios in North America, which will focus on the forthcoming Orion Cyberpunk 2077 project. 

On top of all this, the studio is developing a mysterious project called “Hadar,” which will revolve around a new franchise. “We are not working on a game just yet. We are working on a foundation of this new setting,” said Michal Nowakowski, SVP for business development at CD Projekt Red.