CD Projekt RED overhauls processes after Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt RED consolidated the recovery of Cyberpunk 2077 in January 2026, reaching the milestone of 35 million units sold. The title, which now has versions for PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2, served as the basis for a profound restructuring of the company's internal culture. According to Paweł Sasko, associate director of Project Orion, the technical errors of the original launch forced the studio to adopt a more realistic planning and efficient communication between development teams.

The studio's evolution is a positive point, reflected directly in the quality of the Phantom Liberty expansion. The decision to revamp central systems instead of just applying superficial fixes demonstrates a necessary technical maturity for the sequel. Currently, CD Projekt RED is expanding its operations for the new project, which will be set in a dystopian version of Chicago, with the forecast to allocate more than 450 developers to the title by the end of 2027.

"Many of the improvements that players see today were only possible because we revamped central systems instead of overlaying fixes. Sometimes, tearing everything down and rebuilding is the only way. Ambition needs to go hand in hand with technical possibilities, and limitations need to be respected."

"Cyberpunk forced us to grow as a studio; We redid or altered most of our procedures and developed the habit of constantly optimizing and refining this process."

However, the exaltation of a crisis as a growth engine is subject to severe criticism. It is regrettable that a turbulent release, which exposed crunch practices and harmed the company's reputation for years, was necessary for basic optimization procedures to be implemented. The admission that systems and narrative were competing with each other in the original project reveals a primary technical direction failure that should not occur in a production of this scale.

"Clear ownership, better communication between teams, and more realistic planning made a huge difference, and you saw the results of the changes we made internally in Phantom Liberty."

Although the studio claims to have learned the importance of discipline, the dependence on total redo cycles indicates that the human and financial cost to achieve technical stability is still high. The focus now shifts to ensuring that the lessons of focus and alignment are applied from the beginning of Cyberpunk 2 development.

Will CD Projekt RED be able to maintain the balance between ambition and technical limits in Project Orion or will the history of redoing entire systems repeat itself in the new franchise?