Cyberpunk 2 creative director Igor Sarzynski has explained that while many are “dying” for more content in Cyberpunk 2077, “the game cannot be infinite” and warned that they would have likely had to remove existing content to create everything fans wanted.
Earlier this month, on Twitter alternative Bluesky, the developer explained why the game did not need a longer first act heist, despite what fans say. In a follow-up comment, Sarzynski discussed the calls from fans for expanded content in the game with many calling for additional missions with the game’s love interests.
While Sarzynski admitted in his most recent posts that adding more content is something they “could do”, he explained that there is an “expectation conundrum” that ultimately means not every request can work its way into the game without taking other elements away.
“Sure we could do it – by removing something less popular, like, idk Judy or Panam romances.”
Igor Sarzynski
One such ask has been around adding more River Ward content. In Cyberpunk 2077, River is a former cop in Night City as well as a potential love interest. With the love interest characters having some of the best quests in the game, Sarzynski acknowledges that fans are “dying for” additional content, but everything comes at a cost during development.
“Like, i know people are loving and dying for more River Ward content. Sure we could do it – by removing something less popular, like, idk Judy or Panam romances,” the developer told fans on social media.
Sarzynski also explained that it’s not as simple as just removing elements, for example Claire’s races or Gary and Wife side quests, “wouldn’t work”. “You need to have a racing related quest – and scope of Gary and Wife quests (small cheap side content) is not comparable to what you need for opening quests (which everyone play so they need to have high production value),” he explained.
CD Projekt Red has notably moved away from their brilliant RED Engine, which powers both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, opting instead for Unreal. While the former game launched to mixed reviews in 2020, with critics largely citing the numerous performance issues, it has since flourished thanks to the continued efforts of the team. Despite Sarzynsky calling their in-house engine a “miracle“, CDPR revealed the switch will allow them to work on more projects at once.
“The way we built stuff in the past was very one-sided, like one project at a time,” CDPR’s vice president of technology, Charles Tremblay, told Eurogamer in 2024. “We pushed the limit – but also we saw that if we wanted to have a multi-project at the same time, building in parallel, sharing technology together, it is not easy.”
At the time of writing, there is no release date for Cyberpunk 2. While the game is in development, CD Projekt has not dated the project, but some details have slipped through the cracks. According to recent job listings, the game will have some form of multiplayer tacked on, and players will also be able to explore a second city described as “like Chicago gone wrong”.
