Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel Hires Veterans From Mortal Kombat, Diablo, Control, and More

CD Projekt Red is gearing up for its Cyberpunk 2077 follow-up, codenamed Project Orion, and it’s starting by bringing on developers with some impressive resumes.

The Witcher studio announced its new moves in a press release, marking a major milestone as it moves on from its dystopian RPG and its Phantom Liberty DLC. These next steps include a few “high-profile additions” to staff, including developers with experience on franchises like Hitman, Diablo, Mortal Kombat, Dishonored, and more.

First on the list is Dan Hernberg, who is jumping on to Project Orion as executive producer. His experience includes serving as head of production at Amazon Games and lead product manager at Blizzard Entertainment. Ryan Barnard, who will help as design director, is best known for working as a game director at Ubisoft Massive and gameplay director at IO Interactive.

The engineering director spot will be handled by Alan Villani, who previously aided with technical direction on past Mortal Kombat games. Former Control, Dishonored: Death of The Outsider, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora developer Anna Megill will serve on Project Orion as lead writer. Finally, Alexander Freed will also help with writing after previously working with studios like DICE, Obsidian Entertainment, and Wizards of the Coast.

“As work on the follow-up to Cyberpunk 2077, codename Project Orion, enters early stages of development at CD PROJEKT RED North America,” CD Projekt Red said, “the company is currently hiring for various positions across its Boston and Vancouver locations.”

Those interested in applying to work on Project Orion can check out open positions here.

Details on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, which is being developed at CD Projekt Red’s Boston location, are scarce, but we do know some information about what the team has up its sleeve. One idea floating around is multiplayer, a feature absent from the original game that the studio is now “considering.”

We also know that the company is hoping that the Cyberpunk franchise will undergo a “similar evolution” as The Witcher series, meaning the team wants Orion to offer even more gameplay enhancements and features when it eventually arrives. This is all while much of the studio is focusing on The Witcher 4.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

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