The more news that keeps on coming from the CD Projekt RED camp regarding their futuristic RPG, the more we keep thinking a release date slated for next year is entirely possible. We recently learned that the developer is teaming up with Warner Bros. Interactive once more to handle distribution in North America. In addition to this, we now know for certain that Cyberpunk 2077 is being developed for current-gen systems.

Many fans have expressed concern over what they would need to run the game, mainly because the demo was running on system that had some fairly hefty specs. Luckily, CG Magazine recently sat down with Lead Cinematic Animator Maciej Pietras to discuss the optimization of Cyberpunk 2077.

After being asked if the developer encountered any hardware limitations, Pietras said, “Oh no, actually from the top we knew we were developing the game for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. And we started the process of optimization right at the start. So that’s probably what you see running the demo is a PC with like an i7 and 1080TI, so it’s not astronomical specs.”

“Basically, because we are thinking from scratch about optimization, how streaming works, how to introduce global illumination for instance without overwhelming the PC or the GPU,” they continued. “Now we take those things into account right at the start and optimize for that.”

No issues have popped up during the development process, but if any did, there’s a whole team that is devoted to optimization efforts. “You know we’re working on the Red Engine which we are still upgrading,” said Pietras. “You know we are always finding new ways to use the new technical features that speed up the work and there are very low costs when it comes to the optimization part, and as I said, that we have a team of programmers who are dedicated to work on optimization.”

Simply because of that, I don’t think we ever reached that point and say something is too costly based on hardware requirements. That did not happen yet. What we showed in the demo was running in real runtime so there’s nothing there that we were trying to hide.”

While optimization began at the start, the Cyberpunk 2077 team will surely be continuing their efforts in making sure the game is firing on all cylinders. It’s also nice to see that they have had the current generation of hardware in mind from the beginning. All of this certainly helps fuel the rumor hype that the title will be releasing in 2019, but until confirmation comes from CD Projekt RED, we’ll just have to keep speculating.

Cyberpunk 2077 is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, but no release date is set in stone. Keep it tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers as this story develops, and for other gaming goodness going on right now, check out the following:

• Free PlayStation Plus Lineup Revealed Early For November 2018
• Blizzard Co-Founder Mike Morhaime Resigns As Company President
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What say you, Night City residents? Are you more hopeful for a 2019 release now that we know optimization began at the start of development? Do you believe we’ll be learning the launch date in the near future? Sound off in the comments section below, and be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7!