The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Cyberpunk 2077 (Part 2 - Crashing and Burning)

 

Introduction

Welcome back to part two of the Cyberpunk 2077 mini-series, a series that ultimately has been

made because of the events that will be discussed in today’s post.  This is the section of the piece

that you’re likely to know the most about.  The way in which Cyberpunk released is an event that

the gaming world is unlikely to see again, and taught the rest of the companies a few lessons

when it comes to releasing games.

Last week, I focused on the build-up to Cyberpunk’s release, looking at the successes that came

with the pre-release cycle for the project.  It was this success that led to Cyberpunk becoming

one of the most pre-ordered games of all time, which only added to the uproar that came CDPR’s

way at release.  Last week’s post ended at the start of 2020, and it’s from here where we’ll pick

things right back up.

Delays, Delays, Delays

January 2020 would see CDPR announce that the highly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 would be

delayed until 17th September 2020 (a delay of 5 months).  At this stage, delays were relatively

uncommon in the industry, and while some were concerned about the delay, many were hopeful

that the delay would result in the game releasing in a better state than it may have done in April. 

Extra time is usually always a good thing, allowing developers the time to add the final polish and

iron out any issues the game may have.  

Of course, it was around this time that whispers of the Covid-19 virus in China were beginning to

get louder, with growing concern that this virus could spread elsewhere.  Fast forward eight weeks

and the world was in lockdown, with virtually everyone told to stay at home.  This, of course, had a

massive impact on the gaming industry, with games having to be developed from home with limited

resources.  This would have absolutely had an impact on the final development of Cyberpunk, but

as I’ll discuss later on, this was in no way the reason the game was released in the state that it

was.

Cyberpunk ended up being delayed a further two times, initially to November, and then to 10th

December.  Whenever the final delay was announced, I remember being pretty worried about

how the game was being released.  For me, the idea that the game needed a further three weeks

showed that the game just wasn’t ready, and with the delays totalling almost eight months, it was

abundantly clear that something wasn’t quite right (especially with delays not being common-place

within the industry). Reading the delay statement below leaves a bad taste in the mouth whenever

we know what the result was...

Reviews Controversy 

One of the biggest controversies to come from the release saga was the way in which reviews

were done, used to deliberately hoodwink players from how broken the game actually was.  In a

strange move (and this was highlighted at the time), CDPR didn’t release any review codes for

the console version of the game, with reviewers receiving codes for PC only.  Also, reviewers

were only allowed to show footage provided to them by CDPR themselves, and not any footage

they had recorded themselves.  Essentially, reviewers became complicit to the censoring and

misrepresentation of the state of the game, which in turn was used to manipulate consumers into

buying a product they had been led to believe was a fully working and well realised product. 

When Cyberpunk was due to release, back in April 2020, the next generation of consoles were

yet to arrive.  This meant that their game was only going to be released on PC and on PS4/Xbox

One.  Now, for those who don’t know, the hardware in the PS4 differs massively from that of a PC. 

High-end PCs have a much higher processing power, and can run games with much better

graphics quality and frame rates than consoles.  Games like God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn

were already a struggle for the PS4 before Cyberpunk (it was not uncommon for a PS4 to sound

like it was about to take off), and Cyberpunk was an ambitious project that boasted some of the

best graphics in the industry.  This game should never have been released on the consoles that it

did, but perhaps that’s an observation brought about from the power of hindsight.

The review process was perhaps one of the most devious elements of the saga.  The decision was

ultimately made by management to have all the restrictions in place to bolster sales, knowing that

their game was broken (I should say that management have always claimed that they weren’t

aware of just how broken the game was, but I personally find that hard to believe).  Cyberpunk

would review pretty well, with the PC version of the game receiving a score of 86 on Metacritic. 

While this wasn’t industry leading, it was certainly a score that could have persuaded many to

pre-order the game or pick it up on day one on console, with many unaware that the console

version of the game had never been reviewed.

Crashing 

While the PC version had its issues, the console version was actually broken, with users

experiencing multiple crashes, some even console breaking.  Many, many people were

complaining about the state of the game and with the game coming out in the run up to Christmas,

concerned parents were already asking for refunds.  In a totally unprecedented move, PlayStation

removed the game from their online store, and began issuing refunds to players who were

experiencing the problems that came with the game.  The game remained off PlayStation’s store

until June 2021, and when it was put back on the store, it came with a warning about the state of

the game for those looking to buy the game, with PlayStation themselves advising to refrain from

buying the game on the base PS4 system.  It should be stated that this was not a fault of the PS4’s

capabilities, but CDPR’s fault for allowing the game to release on that console the way it did.

News began to spread rapidly of the state of Cyberpunk with more people taking to social media

to share their experience of the game.  Cyberpunk soon became one of the most talked about

games the industry had ever seen, but for all the wrong reasons.  On one hand, it was proving to

be an interesting case study into a gaming catastrophe, while on the other hand, Cyberpunk very

quickly became the laughing stock of the industry.  Videos of glitches in the game went viral, and

on a more serious note, CDPR found themselves facing some serious backlash.  CDPR’s stock

value plummeted, and they were scrambling to try and save face.

Industry Standards

An element of the games industry that has always confused me, is that on the whole, we almost

expect games to not be fully polished upon release.  Games that release with few or no bugs

receive high praise, almost as though it is a surprise.  I understand the complexities that come

with game/app development, and the nature of programming is unbelievably difficult (commonly, it

is known that in app development that you should always have a buffer of 6 months between when

you think you’ll have an app ready, and when it will actually be ready).  But in any other form of

media, it would be unacceptable for anything to be incomplete.  It would be like releasing a movie

where the editing was ever so slightly off, with jump cuts in the wrong places and the scenes being

ever so slightly wrong.  This would be unacceptable in the film industry.  So why is it any different

with games?

Cyberpunk highlighted the industry at its worst.  Not just because it was broken, but because of the

way management hid the state of the game from everyone.  But ultimately, the developers suffered

the most.  This deadline was not set by them, and with management forcing the development team

to work 12-14 hours a day towards the end to get the game ready on time.  The game wasn’t

ready, and needed at least another year, if not longer, to be ready.  And the real clincher is that

the developers knew this.  But upper management refused to listen, and instead went ahead with

releasing a game that was completely broken in nature.

CDPR’s reputation was in complete tatters.  This project that had spanned eight years seemed

destined to mark the end of CDPR as the company they were once known as.  And really it felt

like a huge loss for the industry.  CDPR had become a well-respected company with a large

fanbase, many of whom felt betrayed by how they were treated in the release process.  At the

time, people wondered if there was any way back for CDPR, and next week, I’ll be looking at just

that.