CD Projekt Red's new studio helping on Cyberpunk 2077
Jacking in
CD Projekt Red, the makers of those wonderful Witcher games, today announced they have a new studio elsewhere in Poland to "bolster development" of Cyberpunk 2077. No, this announcement contains no new information on Cyberpunk - but aren't you glad to hear Red have more people helping? I can't think of many upcoming games I'm more jazzed for. Anyway! CD Projekt Red Wrocław, named after the city it's in, is actually built around Strange New Things, a small studio founded by the former chief operating officer of Dying Light devs Techland.
"We're pretty hyped to be on the spearhead of this new office," CD Projekt Red Wrocław head (and ex-Techland COO) Paweł Zawodny said in today's announcement. "We know Wrocław inside out and it's an amazing place to make games. The team is strong, and I'm sure we have both the experience and the creative firepower to make Cyberpunk 2077 an even better game."
Strange New Things formed in 2016, bringing together a number of people who between them had worked at Techland, Hitman devs IO Interactive, and even CD Projekt Red. They had been working on a game of their own, though they never reached the point of announcing it so it's all a big mystery. Apparently they're joining Red with 18 people.
CD Projekt Red seem to be really staffing up for Cyberpunk 2077. They're currently hiring for fifty-odd jobs on the game, in roles ranging from artists and designers through to attention-grabbing ones like programming vehicles - including flying ones. Hovercars, baby!
Rumour has it that Red will show Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 this June, though rumours say a lot of things. For more on Cyberpunk, do read Adam's interview with the fella who created the original pen & paper roleplaying game.
CD Projekt's headquarters is in Warsaw and they have another studio in Krakow. The president of CD Projekt Capital Group, Adam Kiciński, said in today's announcement that having a footing in Wrocław "will pull in people who were hesitant to move" to either of those. Wikipedia tells me that Poland has 930 cities and towns, so just 837 more studios and everyone can easily chip in on Cyberpunk 2077. Please please please.