CD Projekt RED's new RPG may miss 2021 deadline

E3 2019 - CD Projekt RED's next unannounced RPG may miss its 2021 deadline due to Cyberpunk 2077's massive size and complexity.

Right now CD Projekt RED is working on two games due out by 2021: its incredible-looking new sci-fi shooter Cyberpunk 2077, and another unannounced AAA RPG. The new game, which we expect is based around the Witcher series, probably won't release in time because so many people are still working on Cyberpunk.

In a recent E3 Coliseum interview, CD Projekt RED co-founder and CEO Marcin Iwinski said over half of the company's developers are still working on Cyberpunk. Due to the sheer scope and time required for its biggest games, Iwinski says that simultaneously developing two major AAA titles at once is still a dream for the future. Devs may still have to move from project to project in a linear fashion.

"We're very close to 1,000 talented individuals, mostly in Poland, and we have smaller marketing and PR offices around the world. Around 700 of them are developers, and 400 people are working on Cyberpunk 2077. So the vast majority of our teams are working on Cyberpunk," Iwinski said.

Iwinski also says the majority of The Witcher 3 team moved onto Cyberpunk 2077, which is rightly so given the enormous effort that's been put into the shooter. CDPR created a new next-gen engine for Cyberpunk and created new technologies to make Cyberpunk's living, breathing sci-fi world a reality.

"Our dream for the future is to have two teams working simultaneously on different products. To have two big games at one time. I'm saying it's a dream because when you make a huge open world, you need all the resources. Announcing Cyberpunk seven years ago we thought we'd have a team for The Witcher and one for Cyberpunk, but it didn't work out that way.

"We actually then only had a small pre-production team for Cyberpunk while everyone else was on The Witcher 3."

The way Iwinski frames this leads me to believe the AAA RPG could miss its 2021 mark. Cyberpunk 2077 is the biggest game CDPR has ever made, and the company has invested tremendous revenues, manpower, and long-term efforts into its creation over the last seven years. The company doesn't appear to be ready to handle multiple big projects at once, at least not ones that release so close together.

CD Projekt RED announced its release cadence in a 2016 earnings brief that outlined its future plans to shareholders.

At the time of writing, that multi-year plan is still available and remains unaltered, so it's Possible CD Projekt RED could pull this off.

Given what we've seen on Cyberpunk 2077's incredible scope and our years of reporting on the game's insane next-gen tech and incredible vision.

Remember Cyberpunk 2077 launches in April 2020, giving CDPR just little over a year before the next AAA RPG needs to be out. If it's indeed a Witcher game--and signs point to it being so--the team will likely need lots more time to ensure it lives up to fans' expectations.

Check out the full interview with Marcin Iwinski below: