CDPR postpones planned Cyberpunk multiplayer game amid restructuring

A planned standalone multiplayer version of Cyberpunk 2077 is under “reconsideration,” says developer CD Projekt Red, as the company reconfigures for a new development structure in the future.

In a “strategy update” video released Tuesday, CDPR co-CEO Adam Kicinski mentioned that the team had previously “hinted that our next AAA will be multiplayer. Cyberpunk game, but we decided to reconsider this plan given our new, more systematic and agile approach [to development]. “

Instead, CDPR will focus on “building online technology that can be seamlessly integrated into all of our future games,” Kicinski said. This means developing technologies that can “power the online components we choose to add to our games without any technological lag”.

While these online features will be “an important part of our future games,” Kicinski stressed that “CD Projekt Red makes single player AAA RPGs. That doesn’t change.” Online functionality will only be implemented in future games “when it makes sense,” he added.

Parallel development and cross-functional teams

CDPR’s new partial focus on online functionality comes amid an internal restructuring of CDPR’s project management. Kicinski said that instead of focusing on one big budget title at a time, the company “will change and adapt our focus to allow for the development of AAA games in parallel.” This means using “cross-functional teams” capable of working on games simultaneously in CDPR’s two major franchises.The witcher and Cyberpunk.

The goal is to create a faster iteration and more transparent contact between teams, said studio co-founder and co-CEO Marcin Iwinski. This goal takes on added importance since Iwinski said in January that poor internal communications were in part to blame because the company was missing huge bugs in the “last generation” console versions of Cyberpunk 2077 before the game is released.

“We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored signals about the need for extra time to fine-tune the game on the next-gen base consoles,” Iwinski said on a conference call in December addressing the same issues. “It has caused the loss of player confidence and the reputation we have built for ourselves for much of our lives.”

As part of the new structure, the company’s Red Engine technology will be refocused to better serve both franchises at the same time, said CTO Pawel Zawodny. The new centralized version of the engine will allow the team to “prepare certain features that can be used in both franchises”, meaning that features such as NPC routines and character control can be programmed once and applied. to several games in parallel. Zawodny hopes this strategy will bring more “consistency” to the technical performance of CDPR games.

CDPR has also said that in the future it will change the way it promotes its upcoming games ahead of their release. PR campaigns for future titles will be much shorter and start closer to the game’s planned launch, with only short teasers being released earlier. Senior VP of Business Development Michal Nowakowski also pledged the team will focus on showing actual gameplay footage ahead of release, not just concepts, and making sure all planned platforms were represented in the pre-release materials.

Elsewhere, in a question-and-answer session with investors, Nowakowski said he was feeling recent fixes for Cyberpunk 2077 brought the game closer to a planned return to the PlayStation Store, following its delisting in December. “Each [patch] brings us closer to returning to the PSN store, ”he said. “However, the final decision, you have to understand, is up to Sony. We think we’re closer than further, but of course the last call is theirs, so let’s wait and see.”