Project post-mortem: Cyberpunk 2077

Pre-release anticipation

Constant marketing gimmicks, trailer dissections, fan discussion and promises from the development company about an unprecedented game scale contributed to it being one of the most talked-about games in years. Reports indicated that the game cost up to $441 million to develop and market, making it one of the most expensive video games of all time and fueling fans' excitement. At the 2018 E3 awards, Cyberpunk 2077 took home over one hundred awards, including Best Game. The following year's event revealed a third trailer that garnered acclaim, largely due to the introduction of a character voiced by Keanu Reeves.

The game received 8 million pre-orders across all platforms, and by the summer of 2020, it had more pre-orders in China than any other country, despite not being approved for release there at the time. CD Projekt Red, the game's development company, reported that digital pre-orders alone were enough to recoup production and marketing costs.

 

The early signs of trouble

However, even before the release, warning bells began to ring. At the 2019 E3 event, an initial release date of 16th April 2020 was announced. This was subsequently delayed to 19th November and eventually to 17th December. This final delay was unexpected, as the developers continued to discuss it only a day before the announcement.

Additionally, the developers provided review copies to several major gaming outlets but imposed strict review embargoes. Reviewers were required to sign onerous non-disclosure agreements and were allowed only to use footage supplied by the developers themselves. These review copies were issued exclusively for the desktop/PC version of the game, which aroused suspicion and eroded early trust.

 

Immediate backlash

On 10th December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was finally released across the PlayStation4, Xbox One and Windows. Almost immediately, backlash ensued due to poor game performance, glitches, and widespread dissatisfaction among players who felt cheated.

A week after the release, Sony announced that it would remove the game from the PlayStation store ‘until further notice' and offered refunds to customers who had purchased the game through the store. Cyberpunk 2077 eventually returned to the store in June 2021, but PlayStation added a warning stating, “users continue to experience performance issues with this game. Purchase for use on PS4 systems is not recommended.”

The deluge of negative press led to CD Projekt Red’s stock falling by up to 9.4%, largely due to a negative review from game review giant Metacritic. CD Projekt Red was subsequently investigated and faced class-action lawsuits that were ultimately settled for an eye-watering $1.85 million. The first of these was filed only two weeks after the game's release and was followed by a similar class action suit the next month. By May, four lawsuits had been merged into a single common action. The Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection also initiated an investigation a month after the game's release, perceiving that the company had masked technical issues and misled consumers. They requested an explanation regarding the problems with the game and the actions taken by the developers.

 

Reasons for failure and subsequent response

Jason Schreier (of Bloomberg News) stated that discussions with CD Projekt developers revealed that the major reason for the failure of Cyberpunk 2077 at launch was the company's severe underestimation of the project's scale and the labor required. The bulk of development started in late 2016; the company employed twice as many developers as it did for The Witcher 3 and expected a similar development timeline. This larger team was disorganized, which hampered development, and the new game engine created additional challenges.

The various delays, secrecy, and unfulfilled promises had an immediate impact on both Cyberpunk 2077 and CD Projekt Red's reputations. Major media outlets, even those outside the gaming industry, began to report on the controversy.

On January 13, 2021, a month after the game's release, Red’s co-CEO Marcin Iwinski issued an apology to players. He addressed the disorganized state of the company and promised to fix both the game and the overarching situation. He admitted to underestimating the work and risks involved in adapting a PC-optimized game for consoles. He noted that the team had been overly ambitious with the PC version, which served as the foundation for the console version but could not run effectively on console hardware. Iwinski acknowledged that in-game systems posed significant challenges for the console team and that, despite various tests, the glitches reported by players had not been identified.

He accepted full accountability, asserting that the management team—not the developers—was responsible for the game's poor state upon release. He reiterated the company's commitment to issuing refunds and addressing key performance issues before focusing on additional game content.

Refunds were issued on an unprecedented scale. On the Microsoft store, players received refunds, while the Xbox One version of the game remained available, accompanied by a warning about performance issues. In the United States, GameStop announced that they would accept returns of opened box versions of the game, which they had never done so before.

 

Addressing and fixing mistakes

Despite the negativity surrounding the launch, Cyberpunk 2077 and CD Projekt Red have begun to redeem themselves in the public eye, largely thanks to their admission of fault and determination to fix their mistakes. While they might never shake the associations with their names, the game has now developed a fanbase and a sequel (codenamed ‘Project Orion’) was announced in 2022. Additionally, Cyberpunk 2077 has seen the release of an expansion, and a macOS version is planned for release sometime in 2025. Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky launch serves as a reminder of how early promises and excessive secrecy can lead to project failure. It also illustrates that while trust can potentially be rebuilt, a significant failure is not easily forgotten.

 

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Header image provided by Rafael Henrique - stock.adobe.com