Modding has long been one of PC gaming's most important proving grounds, giving players a chance to learn the tools, systems, and design thinking behind the games they love. For CD Projekt Red, that community experience is not simply an interesting side of the audience anymore. It has become a meaningful path into the studio itself.
Pawel Sasko, the associate game director on Cyberpunk 2 and a former quest design lead on Cyberpunk 2077, has said that a substantial part of the team working on quests came from modding backgrounds. In his estimate, around half of the quest team is now made up of former modders.
The comment arrived during a RedStreams discussion focused in part on modding and the continuing evolution of Cyberpunk 2077. Development is underway on the next Cyberpunk game, while the original RPG is still receiving updates. The studio has also been working with mod.io and consulting prominent creators as it considers ways to improve the experience for players and the wider creation community.
From player-made projects to professional quest design
Sasko described modding as an effective first step for people who want to work in game development. In his view, creators who begin by changing, extending, or customizing a game gain hands-on familiarity with the practical side of building content. Rather than only identifying an idea they would like to see in a game, they have to figure out how that idea could function within existing tools, systems, and technical limits.
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"A lot of modders, they were players who actually first played and actually got experience with customizing the game with the mods," Sasko said. "For me, this is a foot-in-the-door technique, and a gateway into game dev."
He added that modding lets aspiring developers see how things are made and learn how they can be built. That experience can be particularly relevant to quest development, an area that sits at the intersection of writing, level design, game logic, pacing, player choice, rewards, and technical implementation. A memorable mission is rarely just a story scene or a combat arena; it is a chain of interdependent decisions that has to hold together when players behave in unexpected ways.
"We actually hired so many modders," Sasko said. "I would say, at this point, half of the quest team is all former modders."
That is a notable figure for a major RPG studio, even with Sasko presenting it as an estimate rather than a formal staffing breakdown. It indicates that modding experience is not being treated as a niche hobby on the margins of game development. For at least one of CD Projekt Red's teams, it has become a common part of the professional background shared by the people making content.
Why modding experience matters for Cyberpunk
The modding scene around Cyberpunk 2077 has covered a broad range of player interests. Community projects can range from visual changes and quality-of-life adjustments to more substantial additions, including new missions. Those projects demand different skills, but all of them require creators to engage with a game as a constructed work rather than a finished product to be passively consumed.
For a developer making a sequel, that perspective can be valuable. Former modders are likely to understand the desires and frustrations that motivate players to alter a game in the first place. They have firsthand experience with the points where a player may want more customization, a different presentation, extra role-playing options, or an entirely new story. That does not mean every fan request belongs in an official game, but it can give teams useful insight into how players interact with their systems after launch.
Quest work may benefit especially strongly from that background. Mods built around narrative content require careful attention to triggers, objectives, dialogue flow, world states, and possible failure cases. A creator must consider whether a player can enter an area early, miss a crucial interaction, approach an encounter from an unplanned direction, or make a choice that affects a later event. Those are the same kinds of practical concerns that shape quests in a large open-world RPG.
There is also an important difference between enjoying an RPG and learning to build within one. Modders frequently have to test their work repeatedly, diagnose problems, revise systems, and account for feedback from other players. That iterative process resembles the day-to-day reality of development more closely than simply having a passion for games does. A strong mod portfolio can therefore demonstrate persistence and practical problem-solving as well as creative ambition.
A studio relationship with the creator community
CD Projekt Red's current approach goes beyond recruitment. The studio has partnered with mod.io and has sought input from major community creators while examining potential improvements. The details of how that collaboration will influence future updates or Cyberpunk 2 have not been fully laid out, but the broader message is clear: the studio sees modding as a useful part of the game's ecosystem.
That matters because mod support can serve several purposes at once. It can give players more ways to personalize a game, extend the lifespan of a release, and encourage a community to share knowledge. It can also create an informal training environment where future developers learn by making, testing, and revising projects in public. In that sense, the player community does not only sustain interest in a game after release; it can also help cultivate talent that eventually works on the next one.
Of course, moving from a personal mod to a commercial production is a major shift. Professional teams must work within schedules, pipelines, performance goals, compatibility requirements, and the overall creative direction of a project. They must also coordinate with specialists across many disciplines. Modding does not remove those challenges, but it can give new hires an unusually relevant foundation: an understanding of how a game's individual parts affect one another and what it takes to turn an idea into something playable.
Modding's wider legacy in game development
The route from community creation to commercial success has precedent across the industry. Several famous games and franchises began life as mods before becoming landmark releases in their own right. Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, and PUBG are often cited as examples of ideas that emerged from modding culture before reaching vastly larger audiences.
CD Projekt Red is not suggesting that every mod will become an independent commercial game, nor has it announced plans to publish original projects made by community members. Still, Sasko's comments show another way the same tradition can influence the industry. Instead of acquiring a mod and turning it into a separate product, a studio can bring experienced creators into its existing teams and apply their skills to a major series.
That relationship can be mutually beneficial. Studios gain people who are already accustomed to working through the limitations and opportunities of game tools. Modders gain a potential route to professional development, access to larger production resources, and the chance to contribute to official content. Players, meanwhile, may ultimately benefit from teams that include people who understand the creative community from the inside.
What it could mean for Cyberpunk 2
There are still many unanswered questions surrounding Cyberpunk 2, including what its quest design will look like and how closely it will connect to the systems and structure of Cyberpunk 2077. Sasko's remarks should not be read as a promise of specific features, expanded mod support, or a particular style of mission. No such details were announced.
What the comments do offer is a useful view of the people shaping the sequel. If Sasko's estimate is representative of the quest group, former modders will have a significant voice in the team responsible for many of the player's most direct interactions with the world: stories, characters, objectives, choices, and the connective tissue between larger gameplay systems.
For aspiring developers, the message is equally direct. Building mods can be more than a way to extend a favorite game. It can be a portfolio, a technical education, and a way to demonstrate that a creator can take an idea from concept through implementation. As CD Projekt Red continues work on its next Cyberpunk project, the studio's quest team stands as evidence that this route has already led many fans into the industry.
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