Development of Cyberpunk 2 “Project Orion” picks up speed, development team strengthened by new high-caliber additions

Cyberpunk 2077 (available here on Amazon) was a huge success for CD Projekt RED. With the last expansion (Phantom Liberty), the developers even went one better and recorded the highest number of players since 2020.

As Gabe Amatangelo, Game Director at CD Projekt RED, confirmed in September 2023 in an interview with PC Gamer, Phantom Liberty is said to have been the last major expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. In the same interview, he confirmed that a successor is already being worked on under the name “Project Orion”. On February 6, 2024, CD Projekt RED made an official announcement that they had completed the concept phase for the Cyperpunk successor and were now starting development.

Five new additions to CD Projekt RED

The development of Cyberpunk 2 will be led by veterans of the studio who were already involved in Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt RED has also announced the arrival of top-class new additions with years of experience in the development of triple-A titles. This naturally raises high expectations among fans.

• Dan Hernberg joins the team as Executive Producer. He previously worked as Head of Production at Amazon Games, Head of Production and Product Management at Panic Button and as Lead Product Manager at Blizzard Entertainment. He was involved in titles such as New World, Apex Legends and Diablo III.
• Ryan Barnard, who previously worked as Game Director at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft and as Gameplay Director at IO Interactive, will contribute his skills as Design Director.
• Alan Villani will join the Project Orion team as Engineering Director. He was previously VP of Technology on various WB Game products and led technical projects including several Mortal Kombat titles.
• Anna Megill, an award-winning game designer with 20 years of experience in the video game industry, will join Project Orion as Lead Writer. She has previously worked on games such as Control (Remedy), Dishonored: Death of The Outsider (Arkane), Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Ubisoft Massive), Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet) and the upcoming Fable (Playground Games).
• Alexander Freed, a New York Times bestselling author and experienced narrative designer with more than 15 years of game writing experience, will join the team of writers. He was previously Lead Writer at BioWare and has worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic, among others.

What is already known about Cyberpunk 2

As planned, 350 to 500 people will be working on the game, spread across the studios in Poland and the USA. The job descriptions already reveal some details about the game: CD Projekt RED seems to want to retain the crafting mechanics from Cyberpunk 2077. There are also indications of a focus on open-world events, possibly on several maps. A seamless transition between dialog scenes and gameplay also seems to be planned.

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As a child in the 90s, my Gameboy was my steady companion. After school, the PlayStation was fired up. When I finally got my first PC, I was completely hooked. My passion for gaming has never waned since. For me, writing for Notebookcheck means reporting on topics that are really close to my heart – in addition to gaming, I also like to write about e-mobility, photovoltaics and innovative gadgets. When I’m not sitting at my computer, I’m probably on water rescue duty on the Baltic coast or trying to counteract the downsides of my geek life – namely sitting for long periods – at the local swimming pool.