As part of the company’s strategy update, CD Projekt RED appears to have ‘reconsidered’ its original plan for Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer. The company previously confirmed it as the next triple-A game in production with a target release in 2022, but now President and Joint CEO Adam Kiciński explained that CD Projekt RED is focusing on bringing online elements into all of its franchises one day instead of just one game.
We aim to make online technologies an important part of our future gamees and use GOG Galaxy to grow global communities of gamers. Let’s stress this here: CD Projekt RED makes single player, story-driven, triple-A RPGs. That is not changing. What is changing is our long-term approach to online and by this we mean ensuring we are properly prepared to implement online elements in our games where they make sense. We don’t want to go overboard or lose our single player DNA. We want to take thoughtful steps to build robust online capabilities. Previously we hinted that our next triple-A would be a Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer game, but we have decided to reconsider this plan.
Given our new, more systematic and agile approach, instead of primarily focusing on one big online experience or game, we are focusing on bringing online into all of our franchises one day. We are building an online technology that can be seamlessly integrated into development of our future games. This technology will power online components we choose to introduce in our games and will ensure we can do without any great technological debt. With this technology in place, we can start to grow an online community powered by our own GOG Galaxy platform which connects gamers both inside and outside of our games. Long-term iteration means constantly learning and improving as we go. Our technical knowledge will expand; our expertise will become stronger; and online elements will become a logical, coherent part of our business.
The statement is admittedly more than a little puzzling. While on one hand it makes sense that CD Projekt RED would want to add online elements to its other major franchise, The Witcher, too, it is presently unclear where that leaves Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer. Is it still being made, or will the Polish studio build the aforementioned online infrastructure first? We’ve reached out to CDPR for clarification and will update this story if we receive any comments.
