Uneven mercenary leaderboards? Co-op heists? A full-blown GTA On-line-style live-service element? The multiplayer potentialities for a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel are simple to think about, even when they’re onerous to implement. A brand new job posting at CD Projekt Crimson suggests the studio is at the very least flirting with some type of on-line element for its subsequent sci-fi open-world RPG. It’s a small and noncommittal knowledge level that’s however half of a bigger development.
“Lead your team to develop and optimize multiplayer systems, including matchmaking, and address challenges related to latency, bandwidth usage, and server performance,” reads part of the job description, first spotted by IGN, for a brand new engineering function at CDPR’s Boston-based satellite tv for pc studio main growth on Cyberpunk 2. That ambition gestures towards plans the studio initially had for including multiplayer to the primary sport. Plans for that content material have been later put aside or deserted as CDPR rushed to prioritize the soundness and long-term viability of Cyberpunk 2077 after a disastrous 2020 launch.
Will historical past repeat itself, or is multiplayer coming to the world of Cyberpunk for actual this time? With the big-budget blockbuster nonetheless in pre-production as CDPR focuses on The Witcher 4, it’s unattainable to say. However it’s clear the Poland-based firm has been seeking to experiment with multiplayer for a while now. CDPR informed traders it was seeking to carry “online gameplay” to extra of its franchises in a strategy briefing 4 years in the past, and co-CEO Michał Nowakowski told Reuters last year the crew was “considering” bringing multiplayer to the following Cyberpunk.
CDPR has additionally already confirmed at the very least one multiplayer undertaking: a Witcher spin-off codenamed Venture Sirius. That sport has been in extended growth at what was once known as The Molasses Flood, with layoffs, departures, and design pivots reportedly all taking their toll. The studio was formally absorbed into the remainder of CDPR earlier this yr. “Overall, it shows a very bright future for Project Sirius (aka ‘the multiplayer Witcher game,’ of which I was the Design Director for three years),” Molasses Flood co-founder Damian Isla wrote upon leaving back in March. “It’s going to be an amazing game, one for the books, and I cannot wait until the rest of the world learns about what we’ve been working on.”
One doesn’t merely pivot to creating a web-based multiplayer sport any multiple merely walks into Mordor. CDPR’s personal struggles with going from the third-person perspective of Witcher 3 to the first-person Cyberpunk 2077 converse to the tech and design difficulties inherent in taking over new growth challenges. However it will be cool to see what CDPR can obtain if it takes that subsequent leap. It in the end labored out ultimately for the studio’s final sport, even when it took an additional three years after it got here out.
