CD Projekt Red plans to double the number of developers currently working on its Cyberpunk 2077 sequel next year. In the company's most recent earnings presentation, it was revealed that Project Orion (better known unofficially as Cyberpunk 2) had 64 developers working on it as of October 31, 2024, while it's still incubating in the early stages of production.
For context, The Witcher 4 has just entered its "full-scale production phase" with a headcount of over 400 people, so Cyberpunk 2078, or whatever it ends up being called, still has a long way to go.
But in CDPR's earnings conference yesterday, one investor asked if the sequel's lower headcount was cause for concern. The simple answer is 'no,' as vice president of investor relations Karolina Gnas explains that the project is about to balloon. "We do not have any issues here apart from regular [problems] scouting for talent that is normal in Poland and in the US," Gnas says. "The current team size aligns with our needs, and we plan to further expand the size of the team next year.
We actually plan to double the team by the end of the next year." That would mean more than 120 people will soon be attached to the Cyberpunk sequel a year from now, though it'll still likely be years away at that point.
Details on the sequel are otherwise light for now, but associate director Pawel Sasko did confirm that most of Cyberpunk 2077's senior developers would return to the sequel to retain the dystopian original's DNA, which is good news for anyone thirsty for more.