# Cyberpunk 2077 follow-up Project Orion adds several high-profile staff

Project Orion is being led by the United States and Canada-based CD Projekt RED North America, and is currently in the early stages of development. Studio veterans involved in Cyberpunk 2077 and its expansion “Phantom Liberty” are spearheading development.

This group, which is now part of a larger team based in a newly created Boston, Massachusetts studio, includes game director Gabriel Amatangelo, associate game director Pawel Sasko, creative director Igor Sarzynski, cinematic director Andrzej Stopa, environment art director Kacper Niepokolczycki, acting lead quest designer Sarah Grummer, and engineering director Kacper Koscienski.

Joining the team as part of today’s announcements are:

• Dan Hernberg is joining the team as executive producer. Dan has previously worked as head of production at Amazon Games, head of production and product management at Panic Button, and lead product manager at Blizzard Entertainment—and contributed to such titles as New World, Apex Legends, and Diablo III, among others.
• Ryan Barnard‘s past credits include game director at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft, as well as gameplay director at Hitman developer IO Interactive. He will be contributing his skillset as design director.
• Alan Villani is entering the Project Orion team as engineering director, having previously lent his technical expertise as vice president of technology on various Warner Bros. Games products, including technical direction on several Mortal Kombat titles.
• Anna Megill is an award-winning game writer and author with 20 years’ experience in video games. She joins Project Orion as lead writer on the heels of narrative contributions to such titles as Control (Remedy), Dishonored: Death of The Outsider (Arkane Studios), Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Massive Entertainment), Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet), and the upcoming Fable (Playground Games).
• Alexander Freed will further bolster the writing for Project Orion. The New York Times bestselling novelist, narrative designer, and comic book writer with over 15 years of game writing experience has previously worked as lead writer at BioWare on, among other titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic. He has also written and consulted for various major studios, including DICE, Obsidian Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast, and 20th Century Fox’s games division FoxNext.

(Screenshot via.)