Cyberpunk Orion: New sequel is announced by CD Projekt
Last Updated on: 4th October 2022, 08:09 pm
The codename for the upcoming sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 was announced today by CD Projekt RED. The game, currently known as Project Orion, or simply Cyberpunk Orion as it’s been called, will be one of the next upcoming long-term projects for the company after the controversial release of the first game.
The announcement comes as no surprise after the sudden increase in sales and popularity for the original Cyberpunk thanks to the recent Netflix animation Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (which is a must-watch, I should say) and the update with the same name received in September. According to Steam Charts, the game currently sits as the 10th most played Steam game in the past 30 days.
And with this new announcement by the developers, things are looking even better for the future, as they are now confident about not repeating the same mistakes once more.
Cyberpunk Orion official announcement
Cyberpunk Orion promises to take the franchise one step further, maintaining the company’s ambition to create “revolutionary role-playing games with memorable histories that inspire gamers”, according to Adam Kicinski, President and Joint CEO of CD Projekt RED.
In their detailed video explaining their plans for the future, they emphasized their plans for expanding their current IPs, such as The Witcher series and Cyberpunk. In the latter’s case, both Edgerunners and the future Cyberpunk Orion title are just the beginning.
READ MORE: Cyberpunk 2077 hits top 10 in Steam top games
According to CEO and Member of the Board Piotr Nielubowicz, Project Orion will be the game that will fully unleash the potential of this dystopian futuristic universe. But as it’s still in the earlier stages of development, it seems that we won’t see any news for it for a while.
It’s important to notice that Cyberpunk Orion is simply a codename, and the final product will doubtlessly have a fairly different title.
The Witcher receives new projects
They also announced the codenames for their future The Witcher projects. The company has three separate projects for the franchise currently in development, which are being tentatively named as projects Sirius, Polaris, and Canis Majoris.
According to Nielubowicz, Sirius is being created with support from other developers. The game will be targeted at a wider audience and will differ from the other titles as it will contain both a single-player experience and Multiplayer modes.
On the other hand, Polaris promises to open a new saga in the Witcher universe. This new saga will contain 3 separate games, planned to be released in a 6-year period starting from the release of Polaris.
Canis Majoris will be a separate project developed by an external studio with developers with deep knowledge of the franchise’s universe. Both Polaris and Canis Majoris are stated to be made with Unreal Engine 5.
A completely new project
Another game with the codename Hadar is also in the makings. While no game is being developed just yet, some conceptual works have already been started, and the project is officially incubated in CDPR’s planning. No info on what it should look like, though. Sorry!
After being accused of promoting a toxic crunch culture back in the release days of Cyberpunk, one of the main concerns for the company is assuring a healthy and sustainable work environment for their collaborators.
While the accusations were later deemed to be “exaggerated”, the initial release of Cyberpunk 2077 was still one of the biggest disasters in the gaming industry in recent years. Players’ immense amount of bugs and satisfaction led to Sony removing it from their games list and offering refunds for those who bought it.
But there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. After many updates and collaborations from the community and the developers, the game was slowly being fixed to the point where people really started to enjoy it.
READ MORE: Cyberpunk 2077 has gained 222% players over the past 30 days
Its current popularity is both due to the hard work from the company and the boost from the Netflix anime, and we can only wait for the new Cyberpunk Orion to also live up to this hype.
Cyberpunk 2077 is currently available for PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Series X|S.
