A CD Projekt official has confirmed that the the majority of the CD Projekt RED development staff has switched their focus to Cyberpunk 2077 instead of The Witcher 3 DLC.

It's been a great year for CD Projekt RED, a studio which saw their latest Witcher title receive very favorable reviews and generate plenty of fan interest in downloadable content. Of course, that's not the only thing the studio has had on the burner these last few years: Cyberpunk 2077 has been in development for some time now, although the studio has remained very tight-lipped on the subject.

Yesterday, a trickle of information finally dripped down from the high-ups over at CD Projekt, which confirmed that the majority of the CD Projekt RED staff are now hard at work developing Cyberpunk 2077, a futuristic RPG title which will bring a drastic change of locale to those accustomed to the Witcher series.

The studio originally stated they wouldn't even talk about the game until 2017, and interested fans have had to keep an ear out for the odd mention at various events. CD Projekt RED was on hand at the Golden Joystick Awards yesterday, where the studio claimed an impressive five awards for their work on The Witcher 3. The CD Projekt Senior Vice President of Business and Publishing Michal Nowakowski was on-hand at the event, and briefly let slip that the majority of the development staff at CD Projekt RED have now switched their focus onto Cyberpunk 2077:

The team is divided right now. There's a sizable team still working on [The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine], but an even more sizable team has actually been working on Cyberpunk for quite a while right now.

One of the visual effects artists involved in the production of Cyberpunk 2077 revealed that the game is "far, far bigger" than The Witcher 3, which the studio estimated had a development budget of 26 million dollars. The title has reportedly been in production a little before it was officially announced three years ago, although we imagine the dedicated development team was much smaller back then.

The studio actually released a fantastic  trailer for the game back in 2012, which ended with a statement that the game would be 'coming when its ready'. It was released so far ahead of a potential release date so that the studio could gauge a reaction from fans to see if there would be enough interest in a cyberpunk title. Evidently there was, and the studio has been hard at work ever since.

With The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine slated for a mid 2016 release, fans will likely have to wait until after that date to hear more about the development of Cyberpunk 2077. The studio hasn't confirmed any speculation about a potential release window, and with them freely saying it's the most complicated title they've ever completed, it wouldn't be surprising to see it come out several years from now.

Nowakowski also reconfirmed that Geralt's story arc officially comes to a close with The Witcher 3, much like Commander Shepard after the third Mass Effect. After also confirming there would be no Gwent-based solo title, Nowakowski admitted it was too early to tell if the studio would be returning to the Witcher series as a whole after Cyberpunk 2077, but we wouldn't be surprised to see CD Projekt RED return to their Witcher roots at a later date.

Cyberpunk 2077 currently has no release date or confirmed system support. We'll keep you posted as more news comes out about the title.

Source: GamesRadar