Cyberpunk 2077 will receive its “last big update” tomorrow, December 5, 2023, as developer CD Projekt Red turns its attention towards the sequel, codenamed Orion, and the next mainline Witcher game, codenamed Polaris.
Speaking to IGN, CD Projekt Red confirmed that update 2.1, which arrives alongside Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, is the last major update for the three-year-old game. CD Projekt Red, in addition to ramping up development for the next mainline Witcher game, codenamed Polaris, is shifting focus to a full Cyberpunk 2077 sequel.
Post on x/twitter Global Community Manager Marcin Momot first indicated that this was the case, saying that CD Projekt Red has “another Cyberpunk 2077 patch” up its sleeve. IGN reached out for clarification from the developer, and a spokesperson confirmed: “To echo Marcin Momot’s tweet, patch 2.1 is supposed to be the last big update.”
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The developer certainly suggested as much in its November 2023 financial earnings report, which showed that following the launch of Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion, nearly half of its staff was now working on Witcher 4. The Cyberpunk 2077 team has been slimmed down to include developers working on the game. Home, Phantom Liberty, Definitive Edition, and Developers “In Transit”.
CD Projekt Red confirmed in May 2023 that former Cyberpunk 2077 employees will be joining the development of Orion as well as the next Witcher, so many of these transferred developers will slowly but surely join the sequel team proper.
Developing Orion isn’t as easy as the next Witcher installment, however, as CD Projekt Red is building a brand new studio in the US to create the sequel. CEO Adam Kicinski said in November 2023 that a core team of 10 Cyberpunk franchise leaders, including game director Gabe Amatangelo, are already in place, and although some hires have been made, the team is still in its infancy.
Orion is currently in its conceptual stage, meaning pre-production has not yet begun. CD Projekt Red North America won’t need hundreds of developers right away, but will likely only need about 40 or 50 team members over the next year, Kiciński explained.
CD Projekt Red told IGN in November that it was determined not to repeat the same practices that led to the troubled launch of Cyberpunk 2077, which resulted in the game being removed from sale on the PlayStation Store, and has already changed several important development processes as a result. It was this difficult start that prompted CD Projekt Red to work on Cyberpunk 2077 for a long time, as the developer sought to turn it around and regain players’ trust.
Little is known about Orion since it’s still in a conceptual stage, but Cyberpunk 2077’s narrative director, Igor Szarzynski, has said he wants the series to undergo a similar evolution to what happened in The Witcher. Even major gameplay decisions haven’t been made yet, but CD Projekt Red is open to changing things up if it sees the likes of third-person perspective as better than first-person perspective.
Ryan Dinsdale is a freelance reporter at IGN. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day long.
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