Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Reveals Reason Behind Canceling Multiplayer Mode

Back when Cyberpunk 2077 was leading up to its 2020 release date, CD Projekt Red had previously announced that a multiplayer component for the game would be arriving at some point after launch. A few months after the game hit store shelves, though, CD Projekt informed players that it had "reconsidered" this feature and later went on to cancel its addition entirely. And while fans never really knew why Cyberpunk 2077's multiplayer was scrapped, we now have an official answer. 

In a new conversation with Eurogamer, CD Projekt Red quest designer Phillipp Weber explained that the rough release that Cyberpunk 2077 had in late 2020 led to those at the company essentially changing plans for multiplayer. Given the dire state that the core game was in, CD Projekt Red basically decided that it needed to focus more on fixing the experience rather than trying to add wholly new components. 

"We really needed to look at what were the priorities for Cyberpunk [after it launched]," Weber explained. "The priority was that the main experience will run for the people in a really good state. And essentially, the switch of priorities meant that other R&D projects had to go away. With Cyberpunk, we wanted to do many things at the same time, and we just needed to really focus and say, 'Okay, what's the important part? Yeah, we will make that part really good.'"

All in all, this isn't a shocking admission as most fans assumed that Cyberpunk 2077's controversial launch was the culprit behind multiplayer getting canned. Still, this is the first time that anyone at CD Projekt Red has really said anything on the matter, which makes this statement quite notable. 

Whether or not the upcoming sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, codenamed "Project Orion," could look to add a multiplayer aspect remains to be seen. Either way, though, Orion likely won't be seen or heard from for many more years, which means we won't have an answer to this question for quite a long time. 

Would you still like to see a multiplayer game associated with Cyberpunk 2077 come about one day? And can you really blame those at CD Projekt Red for getting rid of this element of the title? Let me know your own thoughts either down in the comments or reach out to me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.

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