CDPR's Sasko says half of Cyberpunk 2 quest team are former modders

CD PROJEKT RED has hired a lot of modders, and they now make up a large share of its quest team. Cyberpunk 2 Associate Game Director Paweł Sasko said that "half of the quest team" are former modders, according to 80 Level's report.

Sasko spoke during a REDstream on the official CDPR YouTube channel on October 21. The episode was dedicated to the new Cyberpunk 2077 update inspired by the second season of the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. He described modding as a "foot-in-the-door technique" and a gateway into game development.

He also said the modding community is keeping Cyberpunk 2077 alive, and that he often watches what modders are building. He added that the studio has always tried to support that community. The stream touched on Cyberpunk 2077 updates too, including cross-platform mod support for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S.

For context, 80 Level notes that the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel was unveiled in October 2022 under the codename Project Orion. It is being developed with Unreal Engine 5 by a North American division with studios in Boston and Vancouver. The outlet says CDPR previously described Cyberpunk 2 as being in pre-production, and that it expanded the teams on Cyberpunk 2 and The Witcher 4 last year.

For aspiring developers, the takeaway is practical: published mod work can feed into hiring at a major studio. The figure is Sasko's own estimate from a livestream, not a published staffing breakdown. The source gives no details on roles, hiring dates or programs.