Cyberpunk 2 is Official But CD Projekt Red is Doing Everything Wrong

There is a quiet change going on inside CD Projekt Red. What used to be called Project Orion now has a name inside the company: Cyberpunk 2. During the company's Q1 2025 financial briefing, the studio revealed that the long-awaited sequel has started pre-production, which means that the idea stage is over. This important step means that the creative base has been set, including the main mechanics, story structure, and technical design. The studio's next big project will switch from free-form creativity to structured creation.

For the first time in the company's history, CD Projekt Red's North American section is in charge of making a Cyberpunk game. Studios in Boston and Vancouver are leading the way. This change in leadership is a planned departure from Cyberpunk 2077, which was mostly made in Warsaw. The thinking is full of deep symbols.

Executive producer Dan Hernberg called Cyberpunk a uniquely American story. The series was inspired by the work of American author Mike Pondsmith, whose tabletop world served as the basis for the movies. Now, the world that defined digital dystopia is being rebuilt in its spiritual home. Hernberg is in charge of the project, and he has worked on games for Amazon Games, Blizzard Entertainment, and Apex Legends.

About two-thirds of CD Projekt Red's employees are still working on The Witcher 4, which is the company's main project. Cyberpunk 2 is the studio's second-biggest ongoing project. The leaders of the Boston team want to start over creatively with a story that fits with the studio's signature European workmanship. This balance could mark the start of a new era for CD Projekt Red, one in which new technology and cultural identity come together.

Mike Pondsmith has revealed that the sequel goes much further than Night City. Along with the familiar neon spread, players will also be able to explore a second city that has been called "Chicago gone wrong." The beat in this new place is very different from the West Coast luxury of Night City. It's colder and more industrial.

Pondsmith mentioned that the design has the suffocating energy of Blade Runner, but seen through the lens of the Midwest. The difference between the two towns could be the story's main tension: a world split not only by geography but also by ideas. People are still talking about the possibility of adding multiplayer. CD Projekt Red has officially said that it is looking into adding multiplayer features, but they haven't decided what those features will look like yet.

There are many options, from small asynchronous parts where players can talk to each other through changing events in the game to a separate multiplayer game that was made at the same time as the main release. This system is already being tested by the company in The Witcher's multiplayer project, which is still in pre-production and is called The Molasses Flood. If that project succeeds, it could lead to a separate Cyberpunk online experience that is kept separate from the single-player story.

But past warns us to be careful. Big companies have had a hard time combining story-driven design with persistent online models. For example, The Last of Us Online and other live-service experiments were canceled. Cyberpunk 2 will likely still be mostly a single-player experience since CD Projekt Red's reputation is based on story involvement rather than service economies. If multiplayer comes, it might not define the main game but rather go along with it.

The timeline is long from the point of view of creation. Building samples, setting technical standards, and deciding on art direction are all parts of pre-production, which began in May 2025. Once The Witcher 4 is almost done, full-scale work will probably speed up. Based on this path, the gaming industry thinks Cyberpunk 2 will come out between 2028 and 2030, around the same time as the next version of PlayStation and Xbox consoles. This longer cycle is both a safety net and a message for CD Projekt Red: quality will not be rushed.

Beyond these pieces, not much is known about Cyberpunk 2, but its shape is becoming clearer. Two towns. A studio with a new layout. A new set of goals. Cyberpunk 2077 used neon to show chaos. Its follow-up looks like it's ready to look into consequences, society, and control. The next part of this story isn't just about rebelling against the system; it's also about figuring out how to use the systems we make to stay alive. It waits in the darkness of Night City and the ruins of its new twin. It is wired, patient, and watching.