Cyberpunk 2077 Creative Director Joins Blizzard

The past few months have not been kind to Blizzard. The studio’s beloved co-founder, Mike Morhaime, stepped down as CEO in October, development on Heroes of the Storm has been scaled back, and Diablo Immortal’s announcement at BlizzCon 2018 instantly became the darkest moment in Blizzard history. There have also been reports of massive cost-cutting initiatives at the studio as it loses its autonomy within the Activision-Blizzard organizational structure, which has many fans fearing for its future. We’re finally getting some good news, however, as the Irvine-based studio is bringing on talent from another fan-favorite development house.

Internet sleuths at ResetEra noticed that Sebastian Stępień, a 12-year veteran at CD Projekt Red, has updated his LinkedIn profile to indicate that he started working at Blizzard this month. Stępień worked on CD Projekt’s The Witcher franchise in a variety of capacities, and most recently, served as creative director on Cyberpunk 2077. His profile indicates that he is working as a creative director at Blizzard as well, but no specific game or franchise is mentioned.

The news has set off a wave of speculation in the gaming community. Some awaiting Cyberpunk 2077 are concerned that a creative director leaving mid-development is a sign of trouble, while others think that Stępień’s contribution is complete and the game could be further along than we expected. The official Cyberpunk 2077 website says the game is coming out on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but many think it will launch on the next generation of consoles instead.

Fans in the Blizzard camp seem to be taking the hire as a sign of good things to come. Kotaku journalist Jason Schreier reported that multiple mobile games are in development at the studio, which led some to believe that it had truly lost its way. Stępień has a long history of working on “core” PC and console games, however, so it seems more likely that he was brought on to work on the successor to Diablo III or a brand new game.

It’s worth noting that all talk around the move is purely speculation at this point, as Stępień, Blizzard, and CD Project Red have yet to comment.