The studio CD Projekt has released a strategy update. Initially, the action role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to receive a standalone game as a multiplayer mode. This is now being reconsidered. Does this mean: Cyberpunk 2077 Online is delayed or canceled?
This was the previous status:
- The action role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077 was released on December 10, 2020, for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia. The PS4 and Xbox One versions had so many issues that the release did not go well and CD Projekt Red was heavily criticized.
- The game was released without a multiplayer component. The team was working on a large online game for Cyberpunk 2077, which was to be added later. It was said that internally the team did not think of the online component as a mode but as a standalone product. It sounded like CD Projekt Red wanted to develop something like “GTA Online,” a multiplayer game that overlays the single-player experience.
- This “Cyberpunk 2077 Online” had no release date, no official name, and no details were published yet. The game was expected no earlier than 2022.
No more focus on the “one big online experience” for Cyberpunk
These are now the new information: It is now said by the president of CD Projekt Red, Adam Kiciński, that the company is adjusting its strategy in general and in multiplayer in particular.
Previously, we hinted that our next AAA game would be a multiplayer game for Cyberpunk, but we have decided to rethink this plan, as we now want to take a more systematic and agile approach. Instead of focusing on a large online experience, we prefer to focus on bringing all our game brands online one day.
Adam Kiciński
Furthermore, it is stated:
- CD Projekt Red is planning an online technology that is seamlessly integrated into all its games
- This aims to develop a dedicated online community that connects players inside and outside the games
- Primarily, CD Projekt Red wants to focus more on single-player experiences, but expanding towards online is a logical step
- The two main franchises are The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077
CD Projekt Red announced this information in a 24-minute video, a “Strategy Update.” There, the developers outline a “CD Projekt Red 2.0” (via YouTube).
The company wants to expand the team, further develop the two core brands Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher, and secure its finances better.
CD Projekt Red also wants to take better care of its team and put the “personal well-being of the workers” in the foreground. This is evidently a reaction to the “crunch” debate surrounding Cyberpunk 2077.
Battle.net instead of Cyberpunk 2077 Online?
What does this mean? No one knows at the moment. When asked by US journalists, it was said only: We have no more to say.
It is suspected that this could mean: The “big multiplayer game for Cyberpunk” will not be coming for now. It is either delayed or completely canceled.
It sounds like CD Projekt Red now prefers to build a kind of “Battle.net” instead of “Cyberpunk Online.” How this will relate to “The Witcher,” the second major franchise of CD Projekt Red, is also still unclear.
Before that, the online efforts will probably focus exclusively on Cyberpunk 2077 in the short and medium term. In the new strategy, the “The Witcher” franchise seems to be at least equally important.
As a site that focuses on online games, we have often dealt with Cyberpunk 2077 in the past, hoping that a multiplayer mode would still come:
I believe I know what the multiplayer mode of Cyberpunk 2077 will be like
