Cyberpunk 2: Release date speculation and Cyberpunk 2077 sequel Project Orion explained

Though it had something of a rocky launch, Cyberpunk 2077, alongside its Phantom Liberty DLC, has gone on to become one of the most beloved games of all time. So it's only natural for fans to be excited about Cyberpunk 2, and wonder when it might be released.

We've certainly come a long way from the admittedly funny glitch compilations and less funny PlayStation refunds that beleaguered the launch of CD Projekt Red's latest title.

And whilst there is much we don't know about Cyberpunk 2, dubbed Project Orion, there is a good deal that we do, including what game engine it will be using, and that there will be all-new locations for us to explore.

But, for everything regarding Cyberpunk 2, read on!

Cyberpunk 2077 sequel: Project Orion explained

Project Orion is the in-house name for Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, Cyberpunk 2, and it is currently in pre-production, as a recent earnings report from developer CD Projekt Red confirmed.

We also know that it's being worked on by CD Projekt Red's studios in Boston and Vancouver, likely because its main studio in Poland is currently busy with The Witcher 4.

Multiple major developers from the first game are confirmed to be working on Projekt Orion, including narrative director Igor Sarzyński, game director Gabriel Amatangelo, associate game director Pawel Sasko, cinematic director Andrzej Stopa, environment art director Kacper Niepokólczycki, lead quest designer Sarah Grümmer and engineering director Kacper Kościeński.

Around the time the game was revealed, it was also announced that CD Projekt Red would be abandoning its own internal engine, instead opting to develop the game in Unreal Engine 5.

As for the game itself, Cyberpunk will be maintaining its open world, but expanding on it, adding a second major city in addition to Night City from the first game, as original Cyberpunk TTRPG creator Mike Pondsmith shared in May 2025.

The game will also reportedly be more 'reactive', according to associate director Paweł Sasko, who said in an interview with Aftermath that the sequel needs to validate player choices.

"If you in your story have made a certain choice and that's the way you have decided to go with your V and your partners and whoever else you met in the game, that's your story.

"It's important when making those decisions not to invalidate what players have been doing because it is their story and the decisions they made."

When could Cyberpunk 2 be released?

To put it bluntly, we have no idea when Cyberpunk 2 might release, other than it won't release before 2028, but we expect that it will release around 2029/2030 – here's why.

In a press release from February 2024, CD Projekt Red confirmed that the game is in the "early stages of development", which makes sense as the Phantom Liberty DLC only released in 2023.

This was followed up in May 2025, where the developer officially confirmed that the newly-dubbed Cyberpunk 2 was now in pre-production.

If we look at The Witcher 4, the game they are currently focusing on, the game entered pre-production in 2022 and is currently on course for a 2027 release – a gap of five years.

As part of CD Projekt Red's Q3 2025 financial report, the company revealed that it would not be coming out before 2028, and there are 135 developers working on it compared to the 447 who are whittling away at The Witcher 4.

Furthermore, if we look at Cyberpunk 2077 itself, we know that it was first announced in 2012 and released eight years later, in 2020. If we map that onto Cyberpunk 2, which was first announced in 2022, then we once again get a release date of 2030.

Of course, this is all just speculation, and given how successful Cyberpunk has proven, both as a game and an anime, we can expect the developers to put more resources into it this time around, so it may arrive sooner.

But conversely, five years is a long time, especially in the games industry, and there's no reason why Cyberpunk 2 couldn't face any number of issues during development that would force a 2031 or even 2032 release date.

We would hope that we'll see a Cyberpunk sequel before the end of the decade, but perhaps this is just wishful thinking – we'll just have to wait and see!

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