Update, June 26: Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer is all but certain now, with CD Projekt Red hiring to make a triple-A multiplayer shooter.
A new set of job listings at CD Projekt have just gone up, and several of them point to multiplayer development. The company wants a network programmer to design and implement a “network layer” for REDengine – the internal tech CD Projekt has used for all its RPGs since The Witcher 2, including Cyberpunk 2077.
There’s also a listing for a senior technology programmer, with a “nice to have” recommendation of “experience with shooters and multiplayer games.” Both these listings are tagged with ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ certainly suggesting that those roles will work directly on the upcoming RPG.
Is Cyberpunk 2077 someday going to make the list of the best multiplayer games on PC?
Even more telling is the multiplayer designer, with experience requested in triple-A “narrative games and/or shooters.” This person will design multiplayer gameplay, including “player enhancement” and the “balancing of skills, weapons and other systems.” This one doesn’t have the ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ but as with all the new job offers, is located at CD Projekt’s Wrocław, Poland studio, which was opened earlier this year specifically to aid in Cyberpunk’s development.
You can check out those listings for yourself here. It’s not the first time we’ve heard rumblings about Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer – CD Projekt Red confirmed that such a feature was in the R&D phase back at E3, but said the game will launch as just a single-player title.
“The game we’re shipping to you, the game you’re going to buy is the single-player experience,” quest designer Patrick Mills tells Eurogamer. “That’s what we want to nail down before we start looking at any of these other things.”
Of course, hiring a multiplayer designer certainly suggests that the studio is ready to move toward active development of the feature, but the developers have insisted it won’t be the focus at launch for quite some time. President Adam Kiciński spoke about that point at a financial results conference earlier this year.
Kiciński confirmed that the game would not have any multiplayer at launch, stating “first of all we’re going to deliver players a huge, story-driven roleplaying game for a single player,” likening the release to that of 2015’s The Witcher 3. He said he didn’t want to comment on any further expansions, but said that “we already said in the past that we wanted our future projects to integrate online components at some point.”
But even if we don’t see multiplayer on the Cyberpunk 2077 release date, its eventual inclusion is now all but assured.