CD Projekt Red looks set to massively ramp up its development capabilities as it prepares for Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel, codenamed Orion, as it looks set to create a new studio and help hundreds of contributors to the project.
Speaking to investors after announcing Orion alongside several Witcher games, CD Projekt Red CFO Piotr Nielubowicz said he expects it will take 350 to 500 developers to create the game.
It is also creating a brand new, primarily Boston-based studio for Orion, which will be combined with its current Vancouver office and known as CD Projekt Red North America.
While talent from the Polish studios will also help the game (including Cyberpunk 2077’s lead search designer Paweł Sasko, who is moving to Boston for it), the Vancouver studio only had about 12 team members when it was last acquired by CD Projekt Red. year. It therefore appears that the company will need to hire a few hundred new employees to meet the quota of 350 to 500, and it is already advertising dozens of job openings on its website.
“The North American studio will consist of teams from Boston and the team from Vancouver,” Nielubowicz said, and “the project will also be supported by developers from Poland.”
He continued, “In terms of the total workforce required for such a production, I believe the best reference is Cyberpunk 2077, our most recent release and a good reference point when considering the development workforce and future projects of this magnitude. I think it’s safe to assume between 350 and 500 developers are needed.”
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Since development hasn’t started yet, CD Projekt Red didn’t say too much about Orion, but promised that it will be “the next Cyberpunk game that will fully unleash the potential this universe offers”.
The studio certainly has some busy years ahead of it, as a new Witcher trilogy was announced alongside a Witcher universe game from CD Projekt Red’s The Molasses Flood and another “full-fledged” Witcher title from a mysterious third-party studio.
Meanwhile, the studio is still working on Cyberpunk 2077’s highly anticipated first expansion, Phantom Liberty. It is expected to be released next year, while the next Witcher game could be years away.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He’ll be talking about The Witcher all day long.