The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Cyberpunk 2077 (Part 1 - Promising Beginnings)

Overview

Cyberpunk 2077.  One of the most notorious games of all time whose problems managed to highlight virtually every problem that exists in the gaming industry.  And whenever my mind goes to the game, it’s difficult to not think about the problems the game released with in December 2020.  How could a game with so much publicity and attention fall so badly?  Well, my interest in all these has ultimately led us up to this post today.  

Welcome to the start of my four-part series focusing on Cyberpunk 2077.  This is the first mini-series on the project, but one I fully hope to do justice.  The format of the series will go like this:

1. Promising Beginnings (You’re reading this right now)

2. Crashing and Burning (Releases 18/11/22)

3. Repairing the Damage (Releases 25/11/22)

4. Cyberpunk 2077 - An Imperfect Marvel (Releases 02/12/22)

Parts 1, 2 and 3 will be focussing on a lot of the context surrounding the game, from development, to release, to a lot of other external details.  Part 4 will be my review of the game, having played through the main story and a firm portion of the side stories (I hope) by the time the review releases.  Suffice to say that my opinion on the game will not play a factor in the first three parts of this project.  I’ll be sticking to fact, or opinion on the way in which certain elements were handled.

Without further ado, let’s begin with Part 1 - Promising Beginnings.

Making A Statement

Cyberpunk’s story begins 10 years ago, specifically May 2012, in which the project was first announced.  It was confirmed by developer CD Projekt Red (more on them shortly) that they were working with Mike Pondsmith, creator of table-top board game Cyberpunk on the project, and that their game would be set in the same universe as the board game.  At this stage, the game was very much in the consultation process only, with CDPR working on The Witcher 3 at this time (it would be another three years before it was released).

In January 2013, an announcement trailer was released, simply confirming that the game was in development.  The futuristic setting had many excited for what possibilities could be realised, and while CDPR’s reputation would be good, they wouldn’t be as popular as they would find themselves some years later, following the massive success of The Witcher 3.

The development process of a game the size of Cyberpunk 2077 highlights just how long it can take AAA games to be developed from an idea to a fully realised product.  Cyberpunk’s journey was 8 years from inception to release, however with the work needed post-release, it can be argued that over 10 years was a more realistic window that was needed for this game.  Almost four years were dedicated to the ideas process alone, and with the vast array of characters in the game it is easy to see why.  It was an exciting project, and a definite change of theme and pace from The Witcher.

CD Projekt Red

Maybe you’re reading this and you have absolutely no idea who CD Projekt Red are, or you’re asking “What the frig is The Witcher?”  Which is fair enough, I didn’t really know much about the company, or The Witcher until a couple of years ago.  But understanding the whole context is so vital for this series to be successful, so I'll take a bit of time to give you some context.

CD Projekt Red (from now on I will be referring to them as CDPR) are a Polish video game developer based in Warsaw, which was originally founded to translate major releases into Polish and distribute them domestically (under the name CD Projekt SA).  CDPR was formed in 2002, and would become the department responsible for developing original titles.  It was in 2007 that they would release the first game of The Witcher trilogy, which was exclusive to PC upon release.

The game was reviewed well, and praised for being a high quality first venture in gaming development for the as yet inexperienced CDPR.  The Witcher series is based upon the fantasy novel series written by Polish Author Andrzej Sapkowski, and follows Geralt of Rivia, one of the last remaining Witchers (to simplify, a Witcher is a monster hunter with supernatural powers).  One of the staples of the series (and really now a staple of CDPR games) is that decisions you make during your playthrough will affect the ending of the game that you get.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was the game that catapulted CDPR up into the upper echelons of AAA game developers.  Its release sent shockwaves through the industry, with reviewers quick to call it one of the greatest games ever made, and it won the 2015 Game of the Year Award.  Praise wouldn’t stop there however, as in 2016 additional content was added to the game (namely Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine), which was also highly praised for the quality it added to the game.  It was here that CDPR really held the attention of the industry.  And with over 40 million copies of The Witcher 3 sold, they held one of the greatest selling games of all time within their inventory.

Early Development

After the release of the Blood and Wine expansion, work soon began on Cyberpunk 2077, which for a company that had made just three original titles, all of which set in a medieval fantasy world, was a huge change of pace.  From its inception it was always an ambitious project, with CDPR craving that same level of success that The Witcher had brought for them.  Work began on improving their REDEngine 3, to meet the demands that Cyberpunk was expected to bring, and altogether pre-production began with just 50 staff.

As time moved on, CDPR continued expanding their teams working on the project, with the team exceeding the size of that working on The Witcher.  From 2016-mid 2018, fans received no information from the company, other than continued assurances that they were working on the game that was at this stage “in early development”.  It wouldn’t be until E3 2018 that fans would receive more information on the project, and it was here that the project’s momentum was accelerating.

Hitting the Mainstream

In the last 5 years, we have started to see video games be taken more seriously as a form of media, and for that to happen, the industry needed to be accepted by prolific actors for the general public to sit up and take notice.  The ability for graphics to be so lifelike and real now has meant that more “mainstream” actors have brought their starpower to several AAA projects.  Immediate examples that come to mind are Will Poulter in the Dark Pictures Anthology, Christopher Judge playing Kratos in the extremely successful reboot of God of War, and Cameron Monaghon (who had just found success playing the Joker character in Gotham) as Cal Kestis in Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order.

In July 2018, CDPR decided to take this a step further.  To add some personal conjecture, I have to applaud the boldness of this move from the company, and I do have to wonder if they just took the “if you don’t ask you don’t get” approach, but it certainly paid off.  They somehow managed to convince everyone’s favourite actor, Keanu Reeves to work on this project.  If you happen to not be familiar with Keanu’s work, he’s the star of The Matrix series, and John Wick.  A household name, not only would having Keanu play a character in the game add some serious star power, but he also agreed to be the frontman of the marketing of the game, as well as making appearances at gaming conferences.  This was a seriously impressive feat that CDPR managed to pull off, and more and more people were starting to notice.

While public exposure can absolutely be a great thing, hindsight has shown us that this was such a massive component of the backlash the game received upon release (more on that next week).  Cyberpunk had managed to break into the mainstream market in ways very few games had done or have done since, and I know in my own personal experience that there were a few of my friends pre-order the title, and they aren’t exactly the most hard-core of gamers.  It had become a topic of conversation in many circles, and when E3 2019 came round, Cyberpunk was easily the most talked about game shown off.

E3 2019

If the hype train had set off from the station already, E3 2019 was where it would begin to fly along the track.  CDPR showed off a four minute cinematic trailer, a sequence that would later be revealed to be the ending of the first act of the game, as well as a gameplay demo that was well received by the majority of those in attendance.  And a release date was announced, initially slated as April 16th 2020, with the game available to pre-order.

The trailer was enough to convince a lot of people to pre-order the game almost immediately, but the bigger player here was likely CDPR’s incredibly great reputation that had been built off the back of The Witcher 3.  Players were very quick to pre-order, and overall the game received 8 million pre-orders, making it one of the most pre-ordered games of all time.  Expectations were high, and arguably, rightly so.

Expectation Management

Previously I’ve discussed expectation management in the gaming industry, looking at the various factors that can lead to fan disappointment.  The tactics employed by CDPR for Cyberpunk were very straight-forward as it were.  Releasing high level trailers followed by small nuggets of information is a classic strategy used to drum up hype amongst fans, especially on social media platforms.  The success of The Witcher 3 undoubtedly played a huge factor in gaining fan attention, but CDPR were responsible themselves for hype reaching the levels that it did.

Perhaps most questionably, the demo shown off at E3 2019 was a completely separate build to that of the base game (a fact that came out after the game’s release).  The demo was, in my view, fairly responsible for hype coming from what felt like an informed opinion from many who had had the chance to try it out.  It made the world seem ready and complete, with ground-breaking features to lead into the next generation of consoles.  And as 2020 arrived, all was calm in the world, and Cyberpunk was just four months away…or so we thought.