It sounds like Cyberpunk 2077 is still a long way off

Cyberpunk 2077

Believe it or not, it's been more than three years since CD Projekt dropped the absolutely stunning teaser for its next RPG, Cyberpunk 2077. Not much has happened since then—well, aside from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I suppose—and unfortunately for those of you who, like me, are really looking forward to finally playing it, it sounds like not much is going to happen for a long while yet.

CD Projekt is “crazy excited” about the project, visual effects artist Jose Texiera told iDigitalTimes, but before the studio really gets rolling on it, it's going through the process of improving its tools based on the lessons it learned while making The Witcher 3. “The most important thing that’s happening at the moment is that the programmers are taking the feedback we gave them from working on The Witcher. As cliche as it sounds it was a big learning experience,” he said. “The programmers are updating our software quite drastically.”

That doesn't jibe quite perfectly with a report from last year that said the majority of the studio was already working on the game, and the rumor (which I don't buy for a second, but you never know) that Cyberpunk 2077 might possibly, maybe, be released this year. I've reached out to CD Projekt for clarification, but whatever the situation is, Texeira acknowledged that the studio's experience with Cyberpunk has so far been a lot different than what it went through with The Witcher.

“With The Witcher it was a snowball effect and there was this core of hardcore gamers that knew about The Witcher and they passed the word along. It was a very slow process,” he said. “With Cyberpunk 2077 all they did was this little mood trailer and it just went insane. It was like an avalanche of interest immediately.”

Not surprising, really—it's a really good teaser.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.