It's a little hard to believe it has already been a week since the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, especially after waiting so long for the game to come out. In that time, however, CD Projekt Red has already addressed the graphical and technical issues with the game, released their first sets of free DLC, and the developer has two sizable expansions are in the works.

Needless to say, The Witcher 3 will be in the spotlight for a while. But since it's now out and some of the excitement has died down a bit, many are probably looking ahead to the studio's next game: Cyberpunk 2077. Because people are always looking out for the next big thing.

Cyberpunk 2077 was first revealed back in 2012, and in early 2013 the game's first trailer debuted. At the time, CD Projekt Red had yet to announce a follow-up to The Witcher 2, which called into question the development of a new IP. Details regarding the game slowly trickled out over time, but nothing that would lead anyone to believe it was a priority over Geralt's next adventure. Last we actually heard of the futuristic RPG was a few months ago, when the studio reassured everyone by saying "its time will come."

When that time will be, however, still won't be anytime soon. And probably not even next year. In an interview with Reuters about the success of The Witcher 3, CD Projekt's chief executive, Adam Kicinski, stated that their just-released game would be the main focus throughout 2015 and 2016.

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Taking a look at the sales performance of the game so far, the decision to keep quiet about Cyberpunk 2077 begins to make more sense. The Witcher 3 sold over 1.5 million copies before launch, and it's on track to vastly outdo its predecessors. As Kicinski explains, "Sales of the third part will be many times higher than with our earlier games. Preorders indicate this."

Continuing, he added:

"We broke into the mainstream. It is such a moment in our firm's history that after some years people will look differently at CD Projekt before and after this release.

"We hope and we are certain that Cyberpunk has even bigger commercial potential. It is too early to talk about it, though. This year, and the next one will be the years of the Witcher."

With the Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine expansions likely coming later this year and sometime next year, CD Projekt Red may want to hold off on discussing Cyberpunk 2077 to avoid it taking attention away from The Witcher 3. That way, come 2017, the studio will be able to direct its full attention to their next game, and hopefully turn it into another massive success for them.

Source: Reuters