The highly-anticipated sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 gets an update from developer CD Projekt Red. According to the company, the Poland-based team is getting ready to enter prodcution on The Witcher 4 after an extended period of pre-production. Meanwhile, CD Projekt Red's second team based on Boston, Massachusetts, will begin working on the Project Orion, the working title of the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel.
Earlier this year, the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel entered the research & development phase. Now, according to CD Projekt Red, it's moving from the R&D research and development phase into "planning" stages, which is presumably another word for pre-production development.
"Moreover, as I mentioned with Orion, we are close to moving from the research phase to the development phase in IFRS terms, so this part of the expenditures that was so far booked in our P&L will soon become treated as development expenses and presented as capitalized in our balance sheet," CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz revealed in a recent Q&A with investors.
During the Q&A CD Projekt joint-CEO Michal Nowakowski also confirmed that the studio plans to double its headcount for Orion across 2025 or so. 60 people are currently working on the sequel.
"Orion is a codename for our next Cyberpunk game, which will take the Cyberpunk franchise further and continue harnessing the potential of this dark future universe," CD Projekt revealed on X (formerly Twitter) in October 2022.
Is there a release date for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel?
Although the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is now officially in full development, the project is nowhere close to releasing. CD Projekt already confirmed that the sequel will be developed in Unreal Engine 5 and will have multiplayer elements, but an official release date hasn't been revealed yet. It'll likely take more than two years before the sequel is released.
"Project Orion is currently in the early stages of development, with studio veterans previously involved in Cyberpunk 2077 and its spy-thriller Phantom Liberty expansion spearheading the project, including Gabriel Amatangelo (Game Director), Paweł Sasko (Associate Game Director), Igor Sarzyński (Creative Director), Andrzej Stopa (Cinematic Director), Kacper Niepokólczycki (Environment Art Director), Sarah Grümmer (Acting Lead Quest Designer) and Kacper Kościeński (Engineering Director)," CD Projekt Red said in a previous press release. "This group is now part of a larger team based in the newly created CDPR studio in Boston, Massachusetts."
We will keep you updated here on Epicflix about Project Orion, so follow our Cyberpunk News Facebook page for the latest updates.
