CD Projekt Red is gearing up for the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty later this year. After that, the developers are likely free to work on the sequel, which is exactly what they plan on doing.
During the studio's most recent earnings conference, CD Projekt Red shared updates about the games in its pipeline. The studio plans to start the research phase for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, currently known as Project Orion, once support tasks for Phantom Liberty slow down.
Most of the devs for Cyberpunk 2077 are currently working on the upcoming paid DLC which is coming sometime this year. Phantom Liberty will require some post-launch support hence the plan to start working on the new title in 2024.
"We think the studio will go live in early 2024 [...] once the studio is up and running in 2024, the [research costs] should increase. Once Phantom Liberty launches, no doubt we will need to dedicate some resources to patching and updating. [But] some people will join Polaris, which is already in development, [...] and others will join Orion," CD Projekt Red said in an official statement.
CD Projekt Red announced Project Orion in October 2022. However, there are very few details about the upcoming title.