Cyberpunk 2, which is now officially called Cyberpunk 2, has entered pre-production, but don't expect it out before 2030

Sound the "it's happening" klaxon, folks, because it's happening: CD Projekt announced today that Cyberpunk 2—which, by the way, the studio is now calling Cyberpunk 2 instead of Project Orion—is now in the "pre-production phase" of development.

It's not the biggest surprise of the year—we've known since 2023 that a new Cyberpunk game is in the works from a new Boston branch of CDPR, after all—and "pre-production" is still very early on in the process. Even so, CD Projekt chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz said it's a pretty big deal during today's earnings highlights presentation.

"The Phantom Liberty expansion has reached another sales milestone, having been purchased by 10 million gamers," Nielubowicz said. "This is an excellent result, given that only 20 months have ed since its release, and it confirms sustained interest in the Cyberpunk universe on the part of the gaming community.

"Given these developments, it fills me with even greater satisfaction to announce another important stage in our work on the next big game in this franchise: Several weeks ago, Cyberpunk 2—previously referred to as Project Orion—wrapped up its conceptual phase and entered pre-production. Congratulations to the entire team!"

CD Projekt's focus is still firmly on The Witcher 4, which entered "full-scale production" in late 2024, but Cyberpunk 2 will see a boost throughout 2025: During an investors call, CD Projekt t CEO Michał Nowakowski said the Cyberpunk 2 development team "will be our primary recruitment focus" for 2025.

As for what this means as far as a possible release date, the short answer is that Cyberpunk 2 remains a very long way off. In response to a speculative question suggesting that previous development timelines from pre-production to full release puts the Cyberpunk 2 release in late 2030 or early 2031, Nowakowski did not disagree.

"I can reiterate in a way what I said in one of the previous calls, which was basically that our journey from pre-production to final release takes four to five years on average," Nowakowski said. "Having said that, keep in mind that each project is unique, and there are many variables that influence the final outcome. So I will not lead you into specific years, but yes, this is pretty much how it looks."