Plans for a Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer mode had existed long before the game launched, but in a new update from developer CD Projekt Red, that online mode became a casualty of the game’s turbulent release. The studio was forced to focus all of its energy on whipping Cyberpunk 2077 into shape, as senior quest designer and coordinator Philipp Weber explained to Eurogamer.

“We really needed to look at what were the priorities for Cyberpunk [after it launched],” Weber said. “The priority was that the main experience will run for the people in a really good state. And essentially, the switch of priorities meant that other R&D projects had to go away. With Cyberpunk, we wanted to do many things at the same time, and we just needed to really focus and say, ‘Okay, what’s the important part? Yeah, we will make that part really good.'”

What that multiplayer game would have looked like remains a mystery, as CD Projekt Red kept details of the project tightly under wraps and seldom spoke of it. Last year, CD Project president and joint CEO Adam Kicinski said that the company had “reconsidered” its plans for a standalone multiplayer Cyberpunk game.

“Previously we hinted that our next AAA would be a multiplayer Cyberpunk game but we have decided to reconsider this plan,” Kiciński said. “Given our new, more systematic and agile approach, instead of primarily focusing on one big online experience or game, we are focusing on bringing online into all of our franchises one day.”

The future of Cyberpunk 2077 does look healthy, as next year will see the Phantom Liberty expansion released for the PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game, while a full-fledged sequel is also in development. Beyond those projects, a Cyberpunk 2077 Game of the Year edition is also coming in 2023 once the Phantom Liberty DLC has been released.