More than a month after it was launched, Cyberpunk 2077 is still on everyone’s lips for its chaotic start on old-generation home consoles. CD Projekt, suspected of having lied, wanted to clear things up with the players directly.
see also: Cyberpunk 2077: The creator of Smash Bros. “deeply touched” by repayments
Refunds, withdrawals from the PlayStation Store, class actions, threats of sanctions, dandruff, hair loss … CD Projekt won’t be spared anything as the PS4 and Xbox One versions have landed in the hands of the players.
Since the burden is quite high and the situation needs to be resolved outside of the meetings with investors, co-founder Marcin Iwinski shared a video in English that was released on the evening of that Wednesday, January 13, 2021 to make honorable changes .
When I started CD Projekt 25 years ago, one of the basic principles was direct and honest communication with the players. When the game development department of CD Projekt RED was born, something important was added to this principle: the ambition to develop the best games in the world. It has become our mission and a rule that has guided us so far. Because of this legacy of honest and open communication, you trusted us and pre-ordered our game. While it received good reviews on PC, the console version of Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t meet the quality standards we set ourselves.
I myself and the entire management team deeply regret this and I introduce myself in this video to confess publicly to you. Please don’t blame our teams for what happened. Everyone here is incredibly talented and works hard. The board and I are the only makers, and we’ve decided to get the game out. Believe me, however, we have never made such plans. I assure you that we will do our best to regain your trust.
After this apology-like sequence, Iwinski recalls the scope and complexity of the game, explaining that it was presumptuous to make the game look great on PC first and then adapt to consoles, and that the task, in particular when it comes to data streaming has been greatly underestimated.
The city is so dense and the range of old-generation console drives so wide that it has been a constant challenge for us. Every change and improvement had to be tested, and our testing didn’t reveal many of the problems you encountered in the game. As we neared the final version, we saw significant improvements every day and we really thought that should happen with the startup update.
To go over it all he goes back to the testing process and explains how we read or heard here before that the pc keys were sent to the testers in early December and that this is the case when that version wasn’t according to him not perfect, it remains something to be proud of as the console codes hit journalists on December 8th – later than expected.
All of this happened during our work with all of the challenges that the COVID-related restrictions brought with it. All of the momentum we believe has been achieved has been parked in video calls and emails.
To wrap up hope, the future is on the horizon with a roadmap for the console and PC versions – see our image gallery below – following the major patches that have been released since launch. Regular corrections are to be expected.
The first update will be provided within ten days. Another, more important one will arrive a few weeks later. He insists long-term plans have not been abandoned. Free DLC will be available once the major changes have been made.. The free update for PS5 and Xbox Series X | S is still planned for 2021, the second half of the year, he says.
Iwinski finally makes it clear that the company is taking Cyberpunk 2077 very seriously and announces that there are other plans for the future beyond roleplaying Keanu Reeves. CD Projekt will talk about it when the time is right.
