CD Projekt Red’s RPG Cyberpunk 2077 infamously launched in December 2020 in such a poor technical state that Sony took the rare move to remove it from the PlayStation Store. Thousands of people refunded the game. CD Projekt joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski has now reflected on this, saying it “was for sure wrong” to launch the game in that state, but he pushed back against the theory that the studio did so to appease investors who wanted to see financial returns.
Speaking to The Game Business, Nowakowski said COVID “was a factor” in the game’s rough state at launch, because “the team was getting exhausted in a different way.” He admitted there were “people outside telling us we should launch,” and fans lobbied for this as well. The developers themselves also “wanted to push it out the door” because the ongoing development was “really tiring.”
Looking back on it, now with the benefit of hindsight, Nowakowski said, “The decision to launch was for sure wrong, period. There is no denying it.”
That being said, Nowakowski said, “There were no magical investors telling us, ‘You have to get this out.'” Instead, he said, “It was much more complicated and psychological.”
CD Projekt’s fiscal years follow the calendar and end on December 31. Cyberpunk 2077 was released on December 10 in 2020, and this timing led people to wonder if the developer put the game out then instead of delaying to 2021 to meet the fiscal deadline. There is, after all, precedent for game developers pushing games out the door in a rough state to hit certain fiscal deadlines.
Cyberpunk 2077 might have released in a rough technical state, but it was a smashing success at launch commercially. The game sold nearly 14 million copies right out of the gate, which made it one of the most successful RPG releases in the history of video games. Given that success, CD Projekt Red executives got multimillion-dollar bonus payouts, while developers also took home big bonus payouts related to the game’s huge success in sales.
Following Cyberpunk 2077’s rough launch, CD Projekt Red steadily supported the game with numerous updates and improvements over the years, culminating with a massive, game-changing 2.0 update in 2023 alongside the Phantom Liberty expansion. Today, the game has sold more than 40 million copies.
In other news about Cyberpunk 2077, Microsoft just announced that the game is leaving Xbox Game Pass soon.
Given the huge commercial success of Cyberpunk 2077, it only makes sense that CD Projekt is now making Cyberpunk 2, but it is likely still years away from release. On the more immediate horizon is The Witcher 3: Remastered this year, The Witcher 3’s new Songs of the Past expansion in 2027, and then The Witcher 4 in 2028. Fans hoping to play The Witcher 1’s remake might want to get comfortable.
