Summary
- CD Projekt Red is moving on from Cyberpunk 2077, focusing more on the sequel Project Orion.
- Minor updates may still be added if easy to integrate, despite major updates being done.
- Project Orion is being developed with a focus on team trust and freedom to create, building on Phantom Liberty's success.
CD Projekt Red finally seems to be moving on from Cyberpunk 2077 according to a new interview. In the years following the sci-fi RPG's disastrous 2020 launch, its developers have worked to overhaul the title with many major patches that not only fixed bugs and glitches, but added completely new features such as a working Metro system, romantic hangouts across multiple apartments, car combat and more.
With these improvements, and 2023's acclaimed Phantom Liberty expansion, Cyberpunk 2077 is a far more beloved game than it was at launch. In a new interview with Game File, Game director Gabe Amatangelo - who helmed the work on the 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty - has revealed that the studio is turning its attention more fully towards Cyberpunk 2077's sequel - currently codenamed Project Orion - simply saying "Yes. We're done" when asked about further Cyberpunk 2077 updates.
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CD Projekt Red May Still Add Minor Updates To Cyberpunk 2077
But Only If They're Easy To Integrate
The 2.0 update was originally believed to be the last major update for Cyberpunk 2077 when it released alongside Phantom Liberty in September 2023. This wasn't the case, however, as CD Projekt Red also released the 2.1 update with the Metro system mere months later, and the 2.11 patch with custom paint jobs in January 2024. While the team is now finally writing off major updates to Cyberpunk 2077, Amatangelo isn't ruling out smaller updates entirely, saying, "It's possible that there's some other little thing that comes in here or there, just because, as you're kind of messing around with stuff, sometimes you discover something that is not a high risk. Or it's easy to integrate."
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Amatangelo's Vision For Project Orion Builds On Phantom Liberty
Amantagelo also discussed the development of Project Orion, talking about how the studio has been finding better ways to make a game, focusing on the composition of the team and "trusting each other and believing in each other.” While he didn't discuss how Cyberpunk 2077's team operated before he was in charge, he did say “The big change was just to give everyone more freedom, letting them just create and not have to worry about the game directors checking the box on every little thing.” with managers doing the occasional spot checks to check the game's overall alignment.
This mentality clearly seems to have worked so far, as Phantom Liberty was extremely well received along with the recent updates to the game. One of Amantagelo's key goals seemed to be getting the pieces of the open-world game to connect to each other more, which most of the updates have succeeded in doing, and CD Projekt Red seems to be carrying this vision over to Project Orion, which should hopefully make for a far greater launch experience when Cyberpunk 2077's sequel does eventually release.
Source: Game File
