Like Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red has been very open about starting work on its sequel long before the game is ready. So much so that, according to analysts' predictions, three years after its announcement, Cyberpunk 2 could still be five years away.
That's what Noble Securities analyst Mateusz Chrzanowski says. Speaking to Polish outlet strefainwestorow (thanks, VideoGamer), Chrzanowski explained why, despite being announced in 2022, their predictions have Cyberpunk 2 releasing in Q4 2030.
Putting multiplayer into a Cyberpunk game will take time
While it hasn't been confirmed yet by CDPR, a job posting spotted earlier this year revealed that the studio was looking for someone to help integrate multiplayer systems into Project Orion, formerly Cyberpunk 2's internal codename. This is why it is believed that Cyberpunk 2 will have multiplayer elements, which is why Noble Securities predicts that its release could be further away than we think.
The report doesn't note when the company's analysts launched Cyberpunk's sequel before the leak about its potential multiplayer, but the addition of the extra work leads them to believe we'll finally be returning to Night City around the tenth anniversary of the first game's launch. Poetic if CDPR can make it happen, but not a goal it should force itself to hit after pushing the first game before it was ready resulted in a disastrous launch.
We could play Cyberpunk 2 online, as CDPR is looking for a lead network engineer
It looks like CDPR is trying to create an online mode for Cyberpunk again, after scrapping it from the first game.
It's almost all hands on deck for The Witcher's new trilogy right now
It's not just the multiplayer that will keep CDPR developers in the Cyberpunk 2 mines for half a decade or more. It's a renewed focus on The Witcher. Not only will The Witcher 3 get more paid DLC in 2026, more than 11 years after launch, but the release of that DLC is expected to delay the marketing push for The Witcher 4.
The Witcher 4 is in a strong enough state that we've shown it. It doesn't have a release date, but plans for who will be working on it when within the CDPR offices seem to reveal that, if all goes to plan, we'll be embarking on a Ciri-led Witcher adventure before the end of 2027.
CDPR has also confirmed that they plan to release three Witcher games in six years, meaning that if The Witcher 4 is released by 2027, we'll have three new Witcher games, not including the remake of the original, by 2033. Quite the task, especially with the not-so-small Cyberpunk 2 slipped in there to keep people occupied while The Witcher is going on.
On the one hand, you can look at CDPR's workload and be reminded of how badly Cyberpunk's launch went, fearing that we may be on the verge of history repeating itself. On the other hand, no game in history has bounced back from what was a pretty concrete defeat like Cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from the biggest disaster of the modern gaming era to a technological marvel. A yardstick against which other ambitious triple-A games are measured. When the Switch 2 launched, Cyberpunk's ability to run smoothly on the new console was what showed it could handle just about anything. I hope CDPR has learned the right lessons from its past. Not that it can drop an unfinished game and get away with it, but that it has learned to manage its development time better, and Cyberpunk 2 won't have to endure the same rocky start to life as its predecessor.
- Released
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December 10, 2020
- ESRB
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M for mature: blood and gore, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, use of drugs and alcohol
