The Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, currently codenamed Orion, is a complete mystery. Aside from the fact that it’s in development, we know almost nothing about the project. One thing we do know is that developer CD Projekt Red is seriously thinking about bringing multiplayer into the mix this time around.
Read More: Cyberpunk 2077 Multiplayer Abandoned As CDPR Focuses On Its ‘Single-Player DNA’
Multiplayer was initially planned for the 2020 open-world first-person shooter, but because of the game’s disastrous launch, the team had to go all-hands-on-deck to put out the many fires raging on the neon-soaked streets of Cyberpunk 2077's Night City. As a result, whatever multiplayer CDPR had cooking in the development oven had to get taken out and cooled off so that the game itself could reach a playable state, something the developers executed with aplomb. With Cyberpunk 2077 done and the studio moving on to other projects—which include a sequel to the 2020 game—CDPR has multiplayer on the brain again.
CDPR is ‘considering’ multiplayer for Cyberpunk 2077
In an interview with Reuters, joint CDPR CEOs Adam Badowski and Michal Nowakowski talked briefly about the myriad other games the studio has in development right now. Neither gave many specifics about these projects, but both confirmed that the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is currently “in the conceptual phase,” with the plan to have roughly 80 developers working on it by the end of the year. Nowakowski also said that the company is “considering including multiplayer elements” in the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, but again, he didn’t clarify this statement. He did outline one thing the team is looking into: how to leverage the power of AI.
“We think that [artificial intelligence] is something that can help improve certain processes in game production, but not replace people,” Nowakowski said. That sounds nice, but only time will tell how AI is used in the company’s games going forward.
Kotaku reached out to CDPR for comment.
Read More: Cyberpunk 2077 Will Get A Sequel, Witcher A New Trilogy, But Expect Multiplayer
Badowski and Nowakowski’s comments on multiplayer echo CDPR’s position in October 2022, when the company revealed its intention to bring multiplayer to its upcoming games, of which there are five in the works that we know of. It’s unclear what form multiplayer will take when it arrives in the Polish studio’s in-development games, but at least we know it’s real and (potentially) coming. Let’s just hope that, like CD Projekt Red has already promised, its developers won’t have to crunch to make it all happen.