Examples of Damage Control in Gaming: Cyberpunk’d

Cyberpunk 2077 and developer CD Projekt Red have been hot magnets for controversy over the last few years, with a marketing campaign aimed towards very online edgelord gamers. Certain Twitter replies landed them in hot water and got at least one social media manager fired. The managers have been smitten with Elon Musk, Twitter’s second most annoying user despite his genius, who fits the mantra of a cyberpunk villain. The question was whether the game would inherit this edgelord stuff and truly highlight the cyberpunk hallmarks, but some reviews claimed it missed the mark on both accounts.

It’s quaint to look back on all that now. CD Projekt Red wishes those were the biggest controversies they had to deal with. Who knew this would be one of the most disastrous launches in gaming history?

In the comparative background resided perpetual concern that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports would turn out badly, thanks to CDPR’s focus on high-end PCs. Only the PC version was shown and given to the press, though hope persisted that the fear was overblown thanks to most games being only shown on PC before release these days. It only took a short time after it arrived to confirm how the concerns were beyond warranted. The game launched in a glitchy state on every platform, perhaps even worse than a Bethesda RPG launch (the PC version handles the best, but it’s hardly flawless). Even after several delays and patches, the PS4 and XB1 versions are in a pitiful state, especially when played on the base (i.e. non-PS4 Pro and Xbox One X) platforms. Needless to say, they don’t run “surprisingly well.”

The current-gen version takes a big hit in the presentation on base platforms, with cutbacks like framerate jittering that can make it tough to shoot straight, and considerably less pedestrians on the streets. It’s nowhere near as much of a looker compared to the other versions, especially the PC version. CDPR hid this version from the public until they could pay to get their hands on it for good reason, and owners feel duped to the point that they want refunds.

Getting a refund was initially a hassle, after CDPR surprisingly directed anyone who purchased it to ask Sony and Microsoft for one on Twitter. After initially resisting thanks to being unprepared, Sony officially started offering full refunds for digital copies, and temporarily pulled the game from sale. The New York Times, in their long story about this game that’s well worth reading (after this post, thanks), reported that Sony was pissed off at CDPR for telling players to ask for refunds before giving them a heads-up, partly the reason why they pulled it. Microsoft is also offering refunds for the XB1 version, but didn’t pull it from sale. They did, however, slap a warning on the game’s store page.

If only we could have known about how much of a mess this game’s production was behind the scenes, which would have foretold this game’s disastrous launch. It’s all the fault of managers who did a horrendous job of, well, managing. The employees had serious questions for the managers during an internal Q&A session that occurred Thursday, according to a story from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier. (The employees remained anonymous for the story.) One employee questioned the notable hypocrisy with developing a game about exploitative corporations (a hallmark of cyberpunk works) when they were being exploited through overwork.

The managers and promotional team overpromising on features and touting the game’s overall completeness didn’t help either. One developer mentioned that an announcement from January which claimed Cyberpunk 2077 was at “a stage where the game [was] complete and playable” was a lie. There were also promises of the game’s environment, Night City, being fully interactive and containing several activities to participate in from details and the game demonstrations. This wasn’t entirely true. It’s pretty, but has been criticized for feeling like window dressing and a place to complete quests in thanks to lacking interactivity, which some found out after terrorizing Gamespot’s Kallie Plagge for pointing it out in her comparatively critical review before they played it. It’s a lesson to not blindly defend games and companies that probably won’t be learned.

If you’re wondering how the managers are taking all this: CDPR studio head Adam Badowski liked tweets that criticized Sony for removing the game from sale. One even posited a wild claim suggesting this game was singled out while Marvel’s Avengers released “in a worse state.” It’s true that Avengers had a rough launch, but there’s no evidence whatsoever suggesting it arrived in a rougher state than Cyberpunk 2077. The evidence, in fact, suggests the opposite. Badowski has since removed the likes, perhaps after realizing people could see them.

CDPR established a good reputation for themselves with the Witcher 3, a game that capitalized on the desire for a dark fantasy game when Game of Thrones’ popularity was near its height. The game not being flooded with paid DLC additions and the expansions being worthwhile added to the goodwill. It’s why there was excitement for Cyberpunk 2077 since it was announced way back in 2012. That reputation has now been severely burned, all thanks to this game’s horrible launch.

They have a fair chance to reacquire some goodwill next year. The proper PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game are scheduled to launch in 2021, and CDPR should make sure they’re in pristine shape before releasing them. This still may not be enough for them to regain favor with the gaming audience at large, but it’s the only shot they’ll have in the immediate future.

It’s incredible that all this drama has happened around Cyberpunk 2077’s release in a little over a week, but don’t think the ride is over. As they’re preparing and releasing patches to fix as many issues as they can in the current versions, a class action lawsuit could be coming their way, and action from shareholders who feel they were deceived alongside those who purchased the game. It will all be entertaining for some of us, but spare thoughts for the battered developers.