Cyberpunk 2 associate director says half the quest team were hired for their modding work on other CDPR games

The associate director of the upcoming sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 says around half the staff working on quests are former modders.

During a new REDstreams presentation focusing on the latest version 2.5 update for Cyberpunk 2077, the discussion shifted to the introduction of cross-platform mod support for the game, allowing players on PC and console to browse and install a selection of user-created mods directly from the game.

Associate director Paweł Sasko explained how the new feature will help to keep the game fresh, and how having an in-game menu with mods that can be toggled on and off is an easier way to do things.

“If you played like Cyber Punk for 800 hours… or, you know, maybe a little less, but I hope not,” he joked, “then that’s the best way to really keep your experience fresh, right? You can look for things that you’ve never seen before. You know, either gameplay mods or narrative mods, or maybe some mods that add elements or some cosmetic mods.

“All of those elements are bringing something fresh and new and different to your experience. And as a player I can choose, almost like in a in a storefront, I pick up whatever I like – you know, in a buffet, I would say – for me as a player and just experience it that way. I think that that’s probably the most exciting [thing].”

Sasko added that while the option to install mods itself is one he’s happy to see added to the game, what’s more important to him is that it can potentially act as a gateway for rookie developers to cut their teeth through modding and use these mods as examples of their work while looking for a job, noting that his current Cyberpunk 2 team consists of numerous former modders.

“The other thing that I really love personally as a developer is the fact that a lot of people who actually started modding, they were players who actually first played and actually goet experience with customizing their game with the mods,” he explained.

“And so for me, this is almost like a ‘foot in the door’ technique, and a gateway into game development. You can see and you can learn actually how the games are made, how things can be can be built.

“And we as said, [for] the project we actually hired so many modders, right? I would say at this point, I think half of the quest team is all former modders. They were all modders before, on the Witcher 3, Witcher 2, you know, and we hired them and they’re part of our company.

“It’s a wonderful way to actually start your career and really learn and see how to actually build those things. So, that’s just another thing that really excites me, that we can kind of keep pushing this thing and make it more available for more players.”