Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel's Game Director: Using AI to Save Costs Will Lead to Lower Quality

With more companies jumping to AI every month, it's impossible not to wonder who's next. Perhaps the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel will dabble in the technology? Unlikely, according to its associate director Paweł Sasko, who talked about CD PROJEKT RED's titles at the Flow Games podcast.

He compared AI to the early days of Photoshop, saying while there are a lot of promises about the tech flowing around, the industry is still trying to figure it out. He admits that it can potentially help with tedious tasks but he's skeptical about creative work. Everything we see now is "very far from anything usable" at the moment, in his opinion.

"If people will be trying to use it to reduce cost, it will just lead to reduction of quality," Sasko believes. He shared the sentiment in another interview, saying that while the studio had experimented with generative AI, the tech has "a gigantic, really long way to go" and can't replace human effort for now.

Sasko also mentioned the switch from REDengine to Unreal Engine 5, saying it's not that different from what CDPR has done with previous generations. REDengine was built on the Aurora Engine and then improved. Many people think new versions of REDengine are just slightly different, but every new upgrade is "a major rework" of the predecessor with only minor parts staying the same. So going to UE5 is not as dramatic for the team as it might seem.

Sasko shared that there are always R&D and evaluations checking the strong sides of an engine, and for Cyberpunk 2077, Unreal Engine 5 was the best choice.

Phantom Liberty's game director Gabe Amatangelo said in another interview that changing engines "isn't starting from scratch." There are some similarities and gaps, so CDPR is working with Epic Games to bring REDengine's best sides to UE5.

The Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Project Orion, is now in development and might have multiplayer elements, although it's not set in stone.

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