CDPR moves from Cyberpunk 2077 to Witcher 4 and other games

Cyberpunk 2077's V puffs on a cigarette as the sun sets over what could have been.

picture: CD Projekt Red

Cyberpunk 2077The best days of may still be ahead, but developer CD Projekt Red announced today that it is now shifting focus and resources to other projects, including its new open world witcher Game. While the ailing sci-fi shooter is yet to receive a story expansion in 2023, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to get any major overhauls in the future.

“Of course we will continue to support them Cyberpunk 2077 and still working on updating it but [the] A lot of the work has already been done, in our opinion, and was done in 2021,” the company said during today’s earnings call. It also shared a presentation slide showing how development resources have changed over time with “Support for Cyberpunk 2077“ from February 2022 to one of the smallest segments.

That was around when CDPR released the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game Patch 1.5, which added a bunch of new fixes, rebalanced rewards and skill trees, and expanded relationships with certain NPCs. Many of the improvements addressed previous criticisms of the game directly, and I’ve enjoyed diving back into the latest version of late.

A screenshot from an earnings call shows how few people at CDPR are still working on Cyberpunk 2077's post-launch roadmap.

screenshot: CD Projekt Red / Kotaku

At the same time, patch 1.5 caught my eye the middle-point in Cyberpunk 2077‘s redemption arc instead of a final victory lap. There are parts of the game that I love, and then there are the parts where the simulation still crashes frequently and destroys any sense of immersion. CDPR hasn’t said the open-world RPG will never get another patch of this magnitude, but all indications are that development is flagging when it comes to a deeper overhaul of the game’s gameplay or structure. This is perhaps less of a retreat and more of a concession the limits of what the game is.

If yes, a Nobody’s heaven or Final Fantasy XIV-like comeback may not be in sight after all. During its bumpy 2020 launch, including a PS4 version that was so bad, Sony pulled it from the PlayStation Store. cyberpunk 13 million sold. Today CDPR announced that in the 16 months since then it has sold just another five million. Total sales are currently slightly higher than that Super Mario Party and behind God of War, both exclusive to first-party users. It’s also still going strong underneath first forecasts of some analysts.

And while Cyberpunk 2077The future of is still bleak, plans for additional DLC also seem to be downgraded over time. CD Projekt President Adam Kiciński had said before The game would “receive no less DLC than The witcher 3 had”, and this game received two gigantic and stellar expansions. This is why some had originally suspected Cyberpunk 2077 would similarly get two major paid DLCs in addition to smaller free ones, but so far CDPR has only confirmed one. It will arrive in 2023, the company announced today. Further details remain elusive. A previously planned multiplayer component also seems to have been thrown aside. CDPR did not clearly confirm its fate when asked about it during today’s conference call, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment when asked to clarify its future plans Cyberpunk 2077.

It is not surprising that the company is happily turning to other things in the meantime, especially more witcher. CDPR revealed today The witcher 3 has shipped over 40 million copies, with the series selling over 65 million in total. While it embarks on developing the next game in this series, it also has plans for more updates Gwent and The Witcher: Monster Slayera new Gwent Spin-off, an unannounced project from recently acquired Boston studios, The Molasses Flood, and the next-gen version of The witcher 3.

That latest release slipped out this summer after CDPR revealed yesterday it took development away from Russia-based Saber Interactive and finish in-house. Despite the lack of a new release window, the company said it was unfair to call it “indefinitely delayed,” saying it simply needed more time to evaluate what work was left. “No one is saying the game is delayed in a monumental time gap ahead of us,” said Michal Nowakowski, SVP of Business Development.

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