The Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, which is currently dubbed “Project Orion,” has just had a major update! As announced by CD Projekt Red. Project Orion has entered early development stages, with key studio members and other industry veterans joining the project. 

In a press release by CD Projekt Red, the studio confirmed that work on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, aka Project Orion, has begun. This announcement comes with the news that key members of the study who previously worked on the title and its expansion, Phantom Liberty, are now on the project. Those members are. 

• Gabriel Amatangelo (Game Director)
• Paweł Sasko (Associate Game Director)
• Igor Sarzyński (Creative Director)
• Andrzej Stopa (Cinematic Director)
• Kacper Niepokólczycki (Environment Art Director)
• Sarah Grümmer (Acting Lead Quest Designer)
• Kacper Kościeński (Engineering Director)

Joining them at the CDPR Boston, Massachusetts, location are several industry veterans who have worked on many of the most recently released major titles.

• Dan Hernberg is joining the team as Executive Producer. Dan has previously worked as Head of Production at Amazon Games, Head of Production and Product Management at Panic Button, and Lead Product Manager at Blizzard Entertainment — and contributed to such titles as New World, Apex Legends, and Diablo III, among others.
• Ryan Barnard’s past credits include Game Director at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft, as well as Gameplay Director at Hitman developer IO Interactive. He will be contributing his skillset as Design Director.
• Alan Villani is entering the Project Orion team as Engineering Director, having previously lent his technical expertise as VP of Technology on various WB Game products, including technical direction on several Mortal Kombat titles.
• Anna Megill is an award-winning game writer and author with 20 years’ experience in video games. She joins Project Orion as Lead Writer on the heels of narrative contributions to such titles 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 will further bolster the writing for Project Orion. The New York Times bestselling novelist, narrative designer, and comic book writer with over 15 years of game writing experience has previously worked as Lead Writer at BioWare on, among other titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic. He has also written and consulted for various major studios, including DICE, Obsidian Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast, and 20th Century Fox’s games division FoxNext.

Despite entering development, don’t expect anything from Project Orion soon, as most of the studio is working on the new Witcher game. Since November 2023, nearly half of CD Projekt Red’s workforce has moved to the next Witcher project. We expect that number to have grown since then, though that’s not to say that the rest of the team won’t be put on this new project. 

Either way, both projects are likely years away.