[UPDATE 1] Following our original report, some might have concluded that CD Projekt Red has yet to start development on Cyberpunk 2077. In an article posted by Kotaku, visual effects artist Jose Texeira, gave some further explanation about the updated development tools. According to Texeira, his previous quotes didn't at all imply that work on Cyberpunk 2077 hasn't begun yet:

　　“I mentioned that we were upgrading the engine based on the feedback everybody gave from The Witcher 3,” Texiera said. “We’re upgrading the engine. It’s a pretty thorough upgrade. Almost every aspect of the engine is getting upgraded. My particle effects editor is getting upgraded, as is almost every other tool.”

　　“But the article that was written online was worded in a slightly click-bait-y type way that made it sound like we haven’t even started really working on Cyberpunk yet,” he added. “I didn’t say that. We’re just upgrading the tools. That’s all I said. That’s something that any company that uses custom software has to do from time-to-time. That’s all.”

　　“The engine team took all the feedback, and they’re upgrading it,” said Texiera. “The hope is that it’ll allow us to do a lot more with the same engine. A lot more and faster. It’s still very much an ongoing process, but it’s promising stuff.”

　　[Original] CD Project Red’s upcoming action-RPG, Cyberpunk 2077, is still shrouded in mystery, but it seems that feedback on The Witcher 3 is being put to good use for the game’s development.

　　At PAX East, website iDigitalTimes interviewed CD Projekt Red’s visual effects artist, Jose Teixeira, who shared some interesting tidbits about CD Projekt Red’s upcoming Cyberpunk project.

　　The hype for Cyberpunk 2077 is real, and since the game’s official reveal back in 2012, only a short teaser trailer was released. The trailer caught the interest of many gamers, and according to Teixeira, caused an “avalanche of interest”.

　　“There is a difference between how games like this reach a general audience. With The Witcher it was a snowball effect and there was this core of hardcore gamers that knew about The Witcher and they passed the word along. It was a very slow process,” Teixeira said. “With Cyberpunk 2077 all they did was this little mood trailer and it just went insane. It was like an avalanche of interest immediately. It clicks with people instantly and it does the exact same thing with me.”

　　According to CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077 is their most ambitious project to date, and will be far bigger than The Witcher 3. Expectations for Cyberpunk 2077 are high, and CD Projekt Red aims to deliver a title even more successful than The Witcher 3. In order to achieve this, the development team devoured the feedback they received from the latest Witcher installment. The result is a list of features that the development team wanted for their new software tools.

　　“The most important thing that’s happening at the moment is that the programmers are taking the feedback we gave them from working on The Witcher . As cliche as it sounds it was a big learning experience,” the visual effects artist said, explaining that by the end of the development everyone had a list of features they wanted for new dev tools. “The programmers are updating our software quite drastically.”

　　A release date for Cyberpunk 2077 hasn’t been announced, but we hope to hear more about the game in the coming year. Are you excited for Cyberpunk 2077? What features would like to see in action-RPG? Hit the comments.