Cyberpunk 2077 didn't appear at E3 2015, but we didn't we expect it to. CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński made it abundantly clear in May that he'd be keeping quiet about the game until 2017, which is a long time to wait.
Well, it turns out the premature reveal (two years ago!) was a ploy on the studio's part to gauge interest in the game. Speaking to IGN, joint CEO Marcin Iwinski said the strategy served to assure the studio it was making the right move.
"We released the Cyberpunk teaser trailer because we wanted to see how gamers felt about it," Iwinski said. "We were super excited about the project internally, but what if it wasn't the right thing [for us]? But the response has been incredible. Now it's just up to us to deliver. We're hard at work on it."
Iwinski also said that moving onto a sci-fi project after years making Witcher games will be a relief for the studio.
"You can craft swords for 12 years, but you might get burnt out," he said. "People might want to leave and go work on something else. We're excited to switch to guns. We intended to keep [the team] energized with Cyberpunk. The core team is working The Witcher 3's expansions, but more and more people are moving over onto Cyberpunk."
Whether 2017 will see the release of Cyberpunk 2077 or just a new reveal is uncertain, but CD Projekt intends to continue supporting The Witcher 3 with free DLC and major expansions well into 2016.
