Cyberpunk 2077 is quickly amassing a cult following way before its release. The Witcher developer, CD Projekt RED, is serious about beginning production for the upcoming futuristic steampunk game. One of the team members recently spoke out at PAX East 2016, he stressed that enthusiasm for the project is in overdrive and is ready to move on from The Witcher franchise for now. Geralt will see his final adventure in the upcoming Blood and Wine DLC.
The developer stated, “To be honest, the politically correct answer is yes, it is sad [to finish Geralt’s story]. But the truth is that everyone is so insanely pumped about working on the next project, Cyberpunk 2077 ,” said Jose Teixeira, a visual effects artist for CD Projekt RED. “We could’ve made a million expansions for The Witcher because there’s so many stories in that world but everyone is crazy excited about Cyberpunk 2077.”
The game is still in very early production and CD Projekt hasn’t said much. There have been some tidbits the developer has shared, which was met with a huge response and Teixeira mentioned it won’t not likely go down the path of the Witcher franchise.
The developer said, “There is a difference between how games like this reach a general audience. With The Witcher it was a snowball effect and there was this core of hardcore gamers that knew about The Witcher and they passed the word along. It was a very slow process.” He continued, “With Cyberpunk 2077 all they did was this little mood trailer and it just went insane. It was like an avalanche of interest immediately. It clicks with people instantly and it does the exact same thing with me.”
CD Projekt RED will try to meet the game’s high expectations by improving the in-house software used in the game’s development. Teixeira clarified that developing The Witcher 3 was a long and involved process that the teams kept important notes throughout development in order to make things easier in the future.
“The most important thing that’s happening at the moment is that the programmers are taking the feedback we gave them from working on The Witcher. As cliché as it sounds it was a big learning experience,” Teixeira said, explaining that by the end of the development cycle everyone had a list of features they wanted for new development tools. “The programmers are updating our software quite drastically.”
One of the development tools is a new visual effects editor. Teixeira admits that he has more enthusiasm for Cyberpunk 2077 than he did for The Witcher 3, which is surprising given the latter’s success. It appears that Cyberpunk 2077 is a chance for the development team to venture into uncharted waters by exploring a new genre.
The developer admitted, “I immensely appreciate medieval fantasy games.” Teixeira continued, “But I don’t know what it is about Cyberpunk 2077 but it just clicks. There’s something about this game that just clicks with me and I’m really happy to be working on it.”
Cyberpunk 2077’s release is still unknown, but since it’s in early production don’t expect to play the game any time soon.
