CD Projekt has explained why Cyberpunk 2077 is only set to receive a single expansion.
Shortly after its announcement last September,CD Projektsaid the upcomingPhantom Liberty was the only planned expansionfor the sci-fi RPG.
The company elaborated on this decision during its quarterly earnings call on Wednesday.
During a Q&A session, CD Projekt was asked how many Phantom Liberty sales might convince it to make a second expansion for the game.
“The decision has actually been made,” replied SVP of business developmentMichał Nowakowski. “As we have announced a long time ago, we’re not going to make a second or third expansion. This is the only expansion of the game, and it has nothing to do with the numbers and how satisfied or not we are with sales or anything of the kind.
“It’s a technological decision to be honest,” he continued. “This is the last time we’re working on the Red Engine for the time being at least, and in the foreseeable future as you know we are working on the Unreal Engine fromEpic. This was one of the key reasons why we decided this was the only one.”
Alongside the news that it was working on the next mainline Witcher game, CD Projekt announced in March 2022 that it hadentered into a 15-year partnership with Epicthat would see the companies collaborate on Unreal Engine projects including engine and game development.
Set for release on September 26, Phantom Liberty promises toentirely overhaul the way Cyberpunk 2077 is played, according to CD Projekt.
In an interview in June, creative director Pawel Sasko and quest designer Despoina Anetaki told VGC that “all the core main systems” of the game have been “redone or updated in a major way”.
Gameplay designer Yulia Pryimakshowcased some of these new features, including vehicle combat, duringGamescomOpening Night Live last week.
It was also announced that some of the new features introduced in Phantom Liberty will be added to the base game as part of Update 2.0, which will be available for current-gen consoles andPC.
Further reading
Following Phantom Liberty’s release, the next Cyberpunk game, Project Orion, will begin development ata new US-based studio called CD Projekt Red North America.
Elsewhere during its earnings call, CD Projekt said almost260 developers are working on the next mainline The Witcher game, and that “a big part” of Phantom Liberty’s 300-strong team will transfer to the game after the expansion’s release.
