CD Projekt Red is working on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel

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

On Tuesday, the Polish game studio was announced(Opens in a new window) is planning a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 codenamed ‘Orion’. The sequel will arrive after CD Projekt Red releases three new titles for the hit fantasy RPG series The Witcher.

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

(Credit: CD Projekt Red)

The news may come as a bit of a surprise, as Cyberpunk 2077 was originally released in December 2020 to much disappointment. Not only did the sci-fi shooter suffer from game-breaking bugs, especially on the console versions, but it failed to live up to the hype(Opens in a new window). However, since then, CD Projekt Red has released a steady number of patches to not only fix bugs, but also improve the game experience.

(Credit: CD Projekt Red)

Now Cyberpunk 2077 has become one of the most played PC titles on Steam, according to(Opens in a new window) to a third-party SteamDB tracker. The Netflix anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, set in the same universe, may also have contributed to the game’s recent popularity. Additionally, Kicinski noted that total sales for Cyberpunk 2077 reached 20 million copies, up from 13 million prior to the game’s initial release.

The road ahead for the Witcher

The developer announced the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequel as it unveiled its corporate strategy, which includes tackling the studio’s plan for a new series of Witcher games.

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

(Credit: CD Projekt Red)

The third Witcher game, dubbed Polaris, will be a direct sequel 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 with the launch of Polaris,” Kicinski said.

“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 achieve this, he said the second and third games in the new trilogy will benefit from the gaming foundations that Polaris will lay. The studio is also tapping Unreal Engine 5 to create Polaris.

However, CD Projekt Red signals that it will develop the new Witcher titles alongside Cyberpunk 2077. In a presentation, the company notes that it will begin “AAA Parallel Development” starting this year. To do this, the studio plans to expand its game studios in North America, which will focus on the upcoming Orion Cyberpunk 2077 project.

Apart from all this, the studio is developing a mysterious project called “Hadar”, which will revolve around a new franchise. “We’re not working on a game yet. We are working on a foundation of this new setting,” said Michal Nowakowski, CD Projekt Red’s SVP of Business Development.