With Cyberpunk 2077 receiving its last major update and its only paid expansion in Phantom Liberty (which sold three million in its first week), CD Projekt RED is looking to the future, specifically Project Orion. Announced in October 2022, the sequel promised to prove the “full power and potential of the Cyberpunk universe.”
In a recent investor presentation, CD Projekt chief creative officer Adam Badowski confirmed (transcription via VGC) that it’s currently in the “conceptual design” state. “This project is on a conceptual design level right now, and it’s going to be designed by a team of veterans responsible for fine-tuning Cyberpunk 2077 and designing Phantom Liberty.
“We’re going to work out of North America, Vancouver and Boston locations, team leadership are already there. And late in 2024, we’re going to work with teams comprising several dozen people, while as a target, half of the developers are going to work out of the northern US and the other half out of Poland.”
CD Projekt Red CFO Piotr Nielubowicz estimated that 350 to 500 developers would be required, taking Cyberpunk 2077 as a reference. Project Orion director Gabe Amatangelo (who also directed Phantom Liberty) said there’s still “some work” to do on the first game. However, Update 2.0 and the expansion are the “last big updates” as the team transitions to the sequel.
Project Orion doesn’t have a release date, and its platforms are yet to be confirmed. However, given that it’s developed on Unreal Engine 5, like CD Projekt RED’s new Witcher title Project Polaris, current-gen consoles and PC seem like a safe bet. Stay tuned for more updates in the meantime.
