We probably won’t see Cyberpunk 2077 until 2019

Cyberpunk 2077 was announced back in 2012 and CD Projekt Red have kept their cards close to their chests. Apart from one really awesome video we have heard little about the game. At least not until they applied for a grant from the National Center for Research and Development. The NCRD have released information about grant applications and CD Projekt have updated their website revealing more about their application for a government grant. It looks like CD Projekt will receive around 7 Million Dollars worth of funding from the Polish Government. This funding is so that they can achieve four key goals, the descriptions are a little technical so I will break them down into plain English for you:

City Creation

The development of tools that will facilitate the creation of large scale cities that are playable in real time. These tools would incorporate artificial intelligence and throw in some automation for good measure. They would be created with the development of high-quality open world games in mind.

Seamless Multi-player

They plan to create a unique game play experience for a large number of players. To do so they will take into account searching for opponents, session management and replication facilities. They also aim to create support for a number of different game modes and a set of dedicated tools to manage this.

Cinematic feel

They want to create technology that can help provide a unique film quality RPG with a completely open world. This is a little vague but I imagine the idea is to create the tools necessary for an incredible story displayed in an impressive fashion.

Animation Excellence

They want to create technology that will provide a significant leap forward in the quality of complex face and body animations for open world RPG games. So no more stiff doll-like animations ruining your perfectly constructed world. (looking at you Skyrim).

---

The implication of all this? Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be absolutely groundbreaking. This is supported by a recent interview with Gazeta. It’s all in Polish so I will give you a hand. CD Projekts co-founder Michał Kicińsk was questioned about where he thinks Cyberpunk 2077 is going to go. Long story short, he’s got pretty high hopes. He argued that Cyberpunk will be an even greater commercial success than Witcher 3. Not only that, he believes that Cyberpunk 2077 will be a major contender for prestigious awards and competitions.

All this would explain why CD Projekt do not believe that they will complete the game until 2019, the deadline on their grant application. It looks like we’re going to be have to be patient for quite some time. That being said, from the information we have so far? I  think it is going to be worth the wait.