Last night was indeed a celebratory one for CD Projekt RED. If you tuned into the BAFTA Games Awards, you might have seen Cyberpunk 2077 take home the win for this year’s Best Evolving Game.
Fair to say, it’s been a long road for Cyberpunk 2077’s developers to get here but it’s a wholly deserved win.
If I had to sum up in one word what this last year was for Cyberpunk 2077, it would be transformative.
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It’s no surprise really that fans are adamant that had the game been released in this state, it would’ve easily won multiple GOTY accolades.
Best Evolving Game is just as worthy a prize though, reflecting the immense success of the Phantom Liberty expansion, starring Idris Elba, and the fantastic Update 2.0.
Dropping shortly before Phantom Liberty, Update 2.0 completely overhauled the base game, adding a new relic skill tree, revamped cyberware, updated policing systems, mounted weaponry, and vehicular combat.
Following this deserved win for CD Projekt RED, we were able to catch up with Maciej Włodarkiewicz, executive producer on both Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty, to talk about what this win means for the team and more excitingly, what’s next for the franchise.
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Take a look at Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty in action below.
“Oh, this was a long and bumpy road for all of us,” Maciej began. “And it requires so much work from all of the team. Right now, after this, I feel that this journey is complete. We can move on, [and] move forward with this success and [with], you know, a smile on our faces.”
Given that Phantom Liberty is set to be Cyberpunk’s only major expansion, I was curious to hear more from Maciej on if developers have any further surprises in store for fans, particularly regarding additional content updates.
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“We are so hyped about Cyberpunk that it's quite tough for us to lose it and just stop it,” Maciej told me. “I don't want to promise anything but definitely, Cyberpunk is deep in our hearts and if we find any reasonable way to keep it up, we will.”
Of course, the journey is far from over for Cyberpunk 2077. A sequel is in the works, codenamed Project Orion, so I had to ask how the team felt heading into this fresh development period following what’s been a really celebratory year for the franchise.
“We would like to develop and deliver with Project Orion even more than what was in Cyberpunk, from the beginning,” Maciej replied, teasing what sounds to be a much more ambitious and stable sequel.
“Nothing more to say right now but we are so excited and I believe whenever we have something to share, we will.”
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Consider our curiosity piqued.
Topics: Cyberpunk 2077, Interview, CD Projekt Red