CD Projekt Red is making serious moves in the talent market for its long-awaited follow-up to Cyberpunk 2077, and true to form, it’s getting the best of the best to help write the story.
Project Orion–which is in early-stage development at CD Projekt Red North America, a new studio HQ in Boston–has secured an award-winning lead writer, a New York Times best-selling novelist, and a trio of high-profile directors and producers to bring a new flavor to an already experienced team.
New additions to CD Projekt Red’s Project Orion
Anna Megill (lead writer)
Bringing 20 years of video game work to CDPR, the award-winning Anna Megill joins Project Orion as lead writer after leading the narrative for 2019’s spectacular Control, as well as Dishonored: Death of The Outsider, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Guild Wars 2 and, most recently, the upcoming Fable from Playground Games. Megill may be among the best choices for a new CDPR title.
Alexander Freed (writer)
Megill is joined by New York Times bestselling novelist Alexander Freed, a narrative designer and comic book writer who previously worked as lead writer at BioWare on Star Wars: The Old Republic, with contributions to Mass Effect and Dragon Age, plus further work for DICE, Obsidian Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast, and 20th Century Fox games division FoxNext.
Dan Hernberg (executive producer)
Dan Hernberg joined CDPR from Amazon Games, where he was head of production. The Baylor MBA also served as the head of production and product management at port specialist Panic Button, and lead product manager at Blizzard Entertainment, most notably working on Diablo III.
Ryan Barnard (design director)
Ryan Barnard’s resumé includes roles as game director at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft, gameplay director at Hitman developer IO Interactive, lead game designer at Crytek, and design development director at Wargaming.
Alan Villani (engineering director)
As the former vice-president of technology at WB Games, Alan Villani oversaw Mortal Kombat X, while also spending 12 years with Midway Games and another seven years at The Molasses Flood, a CDPR subsidiary.
The five new recruits join CDPR veterans who were involved with Cyberpunk 2077 and its Phantom Liberty expansion, including Gabriel Amatangelo (game director), Paweł Sasko (associate game director), Igor Sarzyński (creative director), Andrzej Stopa (cinematic director), Kacper Niepokólczycki (environment art director), Sarah Grümmer (acting lead quest designer), and Kacper Kościeński (engineering director).
While no hints about Project Orion have escaped just yet, we may well expect more major talent to join its ranks in the coming weeks and months, as it continues to advertise for positions across its Boston and Vancouver locations. At the time of writing, 17 high-level roles are available–you can apply for a Project Orion role at CDPR here.