Cyberpunk 2077 sequel Cyberpunk 2 enters pre-production – Yes, CD Projekt now officially calls it Cyberpunk 2

Developer CD Projekt has confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 sequel Cyberpunk 2 has officially entered pre-production.

The studio announced the announcement as part of its latest financial results, and it said that Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Free Expansion sales were impressive.

It added that 96 of CD Projekt's 730 developers are now using Cyberpunk 2. Most employees (422) are studying Wizard 4this is complete production.

“A few weeks ago, the CD Projekt Red team, who was responsible for the next big match of the Cyberpunk Universe, completed the conceptual phase of the project,” CD Projekt said. “So, Cyberpunk 2 (formerly known under the codename project Orion) has evolved into pre-production.”

What is pre-production? In the world of AAA development, pre-production may involve everything from implementing concepts to planning complete production, building prototypes to equip studios. It can usually take years to complete.

On an investor call after the company's financial report was released, CD Projekt Co-CeoMichał Onowakowski's recommendation to Cyberpunk 2 responded to Cyberpunk 2 not being released until the end of 2030 or even early 2031, and Nowakowski failed to rule out the release window.

“I could reiterate in one of the previous calls that this is basically the journey from pre-production to final release takes an average of four to five years,” Nowakowski said.

“With that being said, remember that each item is unique and there are many variables that affect the end result. So I won't take you into a specific year, but yes, that's pretty much what it looks like.”

Cyberpunk 2 still sounds like a long way. indeed, Wizard 4. But at least now we know that CD Projekt was called the game after it was formerly called its codename.

We know almost nothing about Cyberpunk 2, but earlier this month Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith teases some previously unknown details. Pondsmith, who worked closely with CD Projekt, worked with CD Projekt on the sales Cyberpunk 2077 and was involved in promoting the game before launching in 2020, was asked about his range of participation in Orion at the Digital Dragons 2025 Conference.

Pondsmith replied that he was not involved this time, but said he did review the scripts and had visited CD Projekt to check on the work ongoing.

“Last week, I was wandering around talking to different departments and seeing what they had, ‘Oh look, this is the new web software, what do you think?’ “Oh yeah, it’s good to work here. ” “

Then, the clutter on the sequel: It has a whole new city besides the night city we know from Cyberpunk 2077. Pond Smith described the new city as “having something wrong like Chicago.”

“I spent a lot of time talking to an environmental guy who was explaining the new place in Orion because we visited another city – I didn’t tell you more, but there was another city, we visited another city. And the night city is still there. But I remember watching it.

It is worth pointing out that PondSmith's comments don't necessarily indicate that the Cyberpunk sequel will feature future Chicago, and it's a city that owns it Feel The dystopian version of the city. This is likely to be a view of future Chicago, but this is not confirmed based on these comments.

There has also been some debate as to whether Cyberpunk 2 will expand to the night market in Cyberpunk 2077 or have a new version and how well it can play. There are a lot of unknowns, but at least there may be two fulfilling playable cities in this sequel.

Of course, it was a very busy time for CD Projekt. There is a new Cyberpunk animation project on Netflix in the experience of the popular Cyberpunk:Edgerunners. In the shorter semester, Cyberpunk 2077 will be launched next month on the Nintendo Switch 2.

Wesley is IGN's news director. Find him on Twitter via @wyp100. You can reach Wesley via [email protected] or secretly visit [email protected].