CDP's Pawel Sasko on Pre-production of New Cyberpunk: 'Working with Epic is a Challenge, but Also an Honor'
The sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, known for now under the codename Project Orion, is being developed in partnership with Epic Games, which is said to be both a challenge and an opportunity and an honor for the developers.
CD Projekt's new games are still a distant future, and it's unlikely that we'll learn anything tangible about them any time soon. However, the developers haven't gone off the radar and have shared information on what work on the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 looks like.
Let's be clear: Project Orion is in the very early stages of production. This was made clear by Pawel Sasko, chief quest designer of Cyberpunk 2077, during an interview with TheNeonArcade channel on YouTube (via Rock, Paper, Shotgun).
The Pole confirmed that the project is currently in the "concept and pre-production phases" and is being overseen by a very modest team. This is a deliberate procedure, because - according to Sasko - at this stage, too large a group of developers only complicates the work, and it's better if this initial "iteration" is handled by a group of "a few stakeholders" to maintain a coherent vision in line with the nature of the brand.
It should also be remembered that with the release of Phantom Liberty CD Projekt is abandoning its proprietary REDengine in favor of a new technology: Unreal Engine 5. This in itself is quite a challenge - and an "opportunity," as Sasko put it. Working with the engine's developer, Epic Games, is also to be an honor for him. There is no shortage of experienced engineers in the ranks of the huge company, from whom the Polish developer can learn a lot:
"Cooperation with Epic is something completely new for us: on the one hand, it's a challenge, but on the other hand - it's an honor. It's a huge studio - they have an incredible number of engineers, very experienced engineers. There is a lesson in this for us.
I don't see the challenge as a hindrance, but rather as an opportunity - I see so many opportunities to do something amazing, so I'm really looking forward to it, but there is so much to do on this front."
Of course, we won't see the results of this work any time soon. The team is just looking for people for leadership positions and learning about and preparing UE5 tools for Project Orion and other games.
This also applies to The fourth Witcher, which is also being developed on Epic Games' latest generation technology. Nevertheless, this project too will not reach the players soon - at the earliest in 2025, if we believe the latest information. At least we will have to wait shorter for it than for Project Orion and remake of the first part of The Witcher saga from CD Projekt Red.
