ⓘ Cyberpunk 2077 via YouTube
Nearly half of Cyberpunk 2’s quest team began as modders, according to CD Projekt Red’s Pawel Sasko, who described modding as a practical route into game development. The studio has hired more than 20 former modders and incorporated community-made content into The Witcher 3’s next-gen update, crediting and compensating its creators.
Cyberpunk 2 is still a long way off, with the game in pre-production, but the sequel's associate game director shared some interesting insights during the latest REDstreams broadcast about Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.5 October 22 update, which followed the release of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2. The Edgerunners 2 update added a new questline as a prologue to Edgerunners Season 2, dual-wielding guns, new cyberware cosmetics, and DLSS 4.5 support.
Nearly half of Cyberpunk 2’s quest team started as modders
The stream also revealed some interesting details about the plethora of cross-platform mods that modders have contributed, which now work seamlessly in-game on both PC and console. The new mods make a new playthrough less repetitive for those looking to immerse themselves in Night City again.
In the stream, Sasko explained that modding is akin to a foot-in-the-door technique and a gateway to game development. Sasko further explained in the stream:
“You can see, and you can learn how things are. How things can be built. We hired so many modders for Cyberpunk 2. I would say, at this point, half the quest team is full of modders. They were modders before The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 2, you know, before we hired them, and actually, they’re a part of the company, and it’s a wonderful way to actually start your career and really learn and see how to actually build those things.”
He continued:
“That’s just another thing that really excited me. That we can keep kind of pushing this thing and make it more available for more players.”
CD Projekt Red has hired more than 20 former modders across Cyberpunk 2 and The Witcher 3
Cyberpunk 2's game director, Pawel Sasko, said these modders are on their way to becoming aspiring developers and sees their modding skills as a new pathway into game development.
It’s no surprise, considering CD Projekt Red has hired many modders in the past. Looking back at the studio’s history, quest director Blazej Augustynek modded StarCraft 1 and 2, alongside more than 20 other developers who previously worked as modders.
Going further back, CDPR hired modders who worked on the WolvenKit modding tool for The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 to work on the games’ backends and mod support. When The Witcher 3’s next-gen update dropped, CDPR included popular mods, credited the mod developers, and provided adequate compensation.