Thanks to success in the field of user-generated content, modders often find work in real game studios, and in the case of the sequel to the action role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077 from CD Projekt Red, this is especially true.
Image source: Steam (Deu Sex)
The PCGamesN portal, citing CD Projekt Red junior director Pawel Sasko, reported that the team responsible for the quests of the sequel Cyberpunk 2077 (codenamed Orion) is half composed of ex-modders.
«Half of the quest team [for the next Cyberpunk]—the one that builds missions and currently numbers 24 people—are former modders,” Sasko revealed.
Image source: Steam (Rockyz)
According to Sasko, before working at CD Projekt Red, these specialists made mods for The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077 and other games. For example, quest director Błażej Augustynek was a StarCraft modder.
Mod authors work within CD Projekt Red and outside of the quest department: the studio works closely with the Jigsoft modding team, which is responsible for the recently released REDkit editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Image source: Steam (AlexK0nstantin)
«I always advise young people who ask about ways to get into the gaming industry to learn modding. There are so many tools for learning now, and some of our best people are former modders,” says Sasko.
Orion is currently in early development, as most of CD Projekt Red is occupied with the next Witcher (Polaris). Her team, by the way, includes a former modder who impressed Sasko by transferring the prologue of the first The Witcher to the third.