A new Strategy Update video by the CD Projekt Group, intended for investors, have revealed some changes to the way the main game development studio, CD Projekt Red, will be making games in the future.
Currently, the studio is set up to tackling one game at a time. But a new change in structure, in an effort to move into “agile development”, will see the development team being able to work on Cyberpunk and The Witcher series in parallel by 2022.
This comes in the form of the team centralising the development of their proprietary game engine, the RED Engine, with similar core feature accessible to the two teams. Teams will also be “cross-functional”, so different aspects of the game development process can run in tandem.
The long and short of it is- you can expect to see CD Projekt Red being able to work on both The Witcher and Cyberpunk games simultaneously, so less waiting if you’re a fan of one series and not the other.
It’s all a lot of buzzwords, and you can watch the full 24-minute presentation in the video above, but the video is intended for the business side of things- not us.
Still, it’s fascinating to see how CD Projekt Red has grown- they now employ over 1 thousand people- and so the need to change into a more adaptable form of software engineering process is much needed.
The Strategy Update video also talks about how they are changing their ways in adding online support- the idea of a standalone Cyberpunk multiplayer game is now “being reconsidered” as CD Projekt wants to remain focus on AAA single-player RPGs.
There’s also a reassurance of a shorter marketing campaign moving forward (to avoid what happened to the ridiculous hype behind Cyberpunk 2077), affirming a commitment to a “sustainable and caring work environment”, and showing off the potential of the two IPs to grow beyond gaming and into popular culture.