Rumour has it that the game director of Phantom Liberty has reportedly confirmed that he will be returning to the role for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel.

The head of Cyberpunk 2077 DLC Phantom Liberty, Gabe Amatangelo, has reportedly confirmed that he will continue to helm CD Projekt Red’s planned sequel. While the game has had issues since its release in 2020, it seems CD Projekt Red is now confident in the series’ direction. Phantom Liberty will be the start of a new direction for Cyberpunk 2077. And Amatangelo will carry that momentum into the second part.

Cyberpunk 2077 went through a tumultuous development cycle, ultimately leading to several key team members leaving CD Projekt Red altogether.

Gabe Amatangelo took over the continued direction of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2021, just over a year after CD Projekt Red picked it up. Now it looks like he could be the future leader of the franchise at CD Projekt Red. Speaking to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Amatangelo revealed that he will direct the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077. The one announced for October 2022. So far, all that has been revealed about the sequel is that it will be codenamed Project Orion. Or that it will be built on Unreal Engine 5. Needless to say, the sequel will require a tremendous amount of work. It is still years away from even being unveiled.

As for how Amatangelo became the future head of the game series at CD Projekt Red, that starts with the game’s 2020 development status. Amatangelo is an industry veteran, having spent ten years at EA between Mythic Entertainment and BioWare. After that, he spent four years at QC Games as a game director and co-founder. In 2020, when development on Cyberpunk 2077 was stalled, Amatangelo was called on as creative director to help refocus the team. He showed the experience needed to become the new game director when Badowski resigned in 2021.

It seems that the evolution of Phantom Liberty in the years since Amatangelo took over has proven that the new game director is worthy of the new game.

The DLC coming in September will completely transform Cyberpunk 2077. It’s taken over three years, but fans are excited about the game again. Phantom Liberty hasn’t even been released or reviewed, but CD Projekt Red seems confident in Amatangelo’s work.

Amatangelo himself seems to be happy with the situation. He noted to Bloomberg that CD Projekt’s board had given the team all the time and resources they needed. But that doesn’t just mean the game will be better than it was. Amatangelo says he’s also been working to improve CD Projekt Red’s culture. According to him, the development of Phantom Liberty went without a crisis. Hopefully, they will keep it that way in the sequel development.

Source: Bloomberg