One of Cyberpunk 2077’s gameplay design leads has left developer CD Projekt Red after almost eight years at the company. Andrzej Zawadzki, who worked on several of the RPG game’s systems, announced on Twitter that he is moving on to a “new adventure”, but has not made any future plans public yet.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Zawadzki began work at CD Projekt Red in 2013 as a QA tester, moving up the ranks to become a QA analyst in 2015 and help finalise work on The Witcher 3. In 2016 he began working as a junior gameplay designer on Cyberpunk 2077, helping to establish the high-level designs for the game’s RPG progression systems.
Over the course of Cyberpunk 2077’s development, Zawadzki worked on several teams, contributing design work on the item system and in-game economy, and working with others on how those systems would work with movement, weapons, and other mechanics. Promoted to lead gameplay designer in 2019, Zawadzki led a team that developed Cyberpunk 2077’s crafting system. He moved into the senior gameplay designer role in 2020 and worked on implementing the skills and perks available to V as players gain experience.
“To every person I’ve met on the way – thank you”, Zawadzki said in his parting tweet. “It was an honor and a pleasure.”
After almost 8 years, my time at CDPR has come to an end. It's time for the new adventure.
To every person I've met on the way – thank you 🙂 It was an honor and pleasure.
See you around 🙂 pic.twitter.com/Hts3TE9VzW— Andrzej Zawadzki (@ZawAndy) March 22, 2021
Since Cyberpunk 2077’s troubled release, Zawadzki and other CD Projekt Red developers have tended to be relatively reserved on social media – Zawadzki said he was taking “a break from socials” last month. Between the pressure to address issues with Cyberpunk 2077 and the recent cyber attack on CD Projekt, it’s easy to imagine it’s been a stressful few months for employees there.
Another patch for Cyberpunk 2077 is on the way soon, however – this one will address several driving-related issues and make the Night City Police Department a bit less aggressive about teleporting to the scene of a crime.