CD Projekt Red has outlined its roadmap for the open-world game. The bad news is that it’s “reconsidering” its plan to launch a Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer mode as its next AAA release. Instead, the Polish studio is focusing on bringing online into “all of its franchises one day.” CD Projekt Red’s CEO Adam Kici?ski detailed its “long-term” approach to multiplayer in a new video, stating that it would implement online elements into games “where they make sense.” He added: “We don’t want to go overboard or lose our single-player DNA. We want to take thoughtful steps to build robust online capabilities.”
The studio seems to be prioritizing an all-inclusive online framework, over an individual spin-off, that can help it to attract a legion of fans through its GoG store. “We are building an online technology that can be seamlessly integrated into the development of our future games,” Kici?ski said. “This technology will power the online components we choose to introduce in our games, and will ensure we can do so 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.”
“Previously we hinted that our next AAA would be a multiplayer Cyberpunk game, but we have decided to reconsider this plan,” CD Projekt joint CEO and president Adam Kicinski said near the end of the video. “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.”
Before that final part of Kicinski’s statement sets off alarm bells, it should be noted that immediately before this statement, Kicinski also said that CD Projekt Red will be doubling down on its identity as a developer of single-player, story-rich games first. The company wants to add online components to all of its games, but Kicinski stressed that CD Projekt does not want to go overboard with online implementations and only wants to add online functionality where it makes sense.
What that means for Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer is unknown at the moment, but it sounds like CD Projekt’s focus might be shifting away from that standalone release as it works to fix the single player Cyberpunk 2077 and implements changes to its development strategy. Some of those changes include expanding so it can work on more than one major release at a time and also shortening the length of marketing campaigns for its games. You can watch the entire strategy update video embedded above, but otherwise, we’ll keep an eye out for more details about Cyberpunk 2077 and its possibly-scrapped standalone multiplayer release.
