The head of Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red’s studio has disputed claims that an E3 demo for the game was faked.
Adam Badowski posted an insight into the making of the game via Twitter following an in-depth report from Bloomberg, which claimed, among other things, that the E3 2018 demo was “almost completely fake” according to anonymous members of the development team.
The site’s sources claimed that the underlying gameplay systems were not coded or even finalized when Cyberpunk 2077 was shown behind closed doors to press and other industry professionals in June 2018, which is why it included features that were missing in the latter game.
The developers said it was “a waste of months to make the game.”
Badowski tweeted a statement address three claims from the article, starting with the charge that the demos were forged.
“It’s difficult for a show showcase demonstration to not be an image test or vertical slice two years before the game is released, but that doesn’t mean it’s fake,” he wrote.
“Games aren’t made linear and don’t start to look like the finished product until a few months before launch. Looking at that demo now it’s different, yes, but that’s what the ‘work in progress’ watermark is for. Our last game looks and plays much better than that demo ever was. “
He adds that “missing” features are “part of the creation process,” and some have been left out based on whether they work well as part of the final product.
Badowski also disputed that Cyberpunk 2077’s launch was “disastrous,” as the article suggests, citing the rave reviews it garnered on PC.
“As for the old generation consoles, yes that’s a different case, but we’ve done that right and are working super hard to get rid of bugs (on the PC too – we know this isn’t a perfect version either) and that’s we’re also proud of Cyberpunk 2077 as a game and artistic vision. “
Bloomberg notes that CD Projekt Red declined to comment on or participate in the feature before publication.
Cyberpunk 2077 was indeed launched to critical acclaim, but soon faced a backlash after reports surfaced that the console versions were so ravaged by technical issues that it would be unplayable.
Complaints about the game even prompted Sony to remove the game from the PlayStation Store and Microsoft to offer a full refund. The studio is also facing a class-action lawsuit for misrepresenting the state of the game to investors.
CD Projekt Red has repeatedly said it is working on fixes, with two major patches in the coming months, and co-founder Marcin Iwiński apologized via video last week.
In the video, Iwiński claims that tests did not reveal the major problems during development. Bloomberg reports that major bugs are still being discovered when Cyberpunk went gold in October.
Engineers also apparently warned management that the game was too complex for Xbox One and PS4, in part due to visions of a busy sci-fi metropolis. But these warnings were dismissed, and management pointed to what had been achieved with Witcher 3 on Microsoft and Sony devices.
The pandemic also played a part in the console edition’s woes; while the development team worked remotely and tested the game on their home computers, they could not access console development kits in the office or fully assess how it worked on Xbox and PlayStation.
Bloomberg’s article – made up of interviews with more than 20 current and former CD Projekt employees – claims there were many signs that the game would be struggling to make it to a 2020 release.
Sources said development really didn’t begin until late 2016 – despite the game’s announcement in 2012 – when CDP “essentially hit the reset button” and began changing many fundamental parts of the project.
When the company announced a release date of April 16, 2020 at E3 2019, some members of the team felt this was too ambitious given the game’s progress at the time. 2022 was considered more likely.
However, in his statement, Badowski states that the feelings of more than 20 sources on this matter are not indicative of the entire team of more than 500 people.
There were also stories of language barriers, with CD Projekt requiring all meetings to be held in English after the Polish studio hired several expats from the US and Western Europe.
Bloomberg claims this was not followed consistently, but Badowski again disputes this, adding that with 44 nationalities in the studio, there have been situations where people speak to each other in their native language when no one else is around.
“Everyone here speaks English in meetings, every company-wide email and announcement is in English – all of that is mandatory,” he wrote. “The rule of thumb is to switch to English if a person does not speak a particular language in an informal conversation.”
The report’s author, Jason Schreier, noted on Twitter that Badowski does not directly address claims of an unrealistic timeline or “brutal crunch” in his statement.
In the article, former audio programmer Adrian Jakubiak claimed to have crunch up to 13 hours a day five days a week.
There have been multiple reports of crunch over Cyberpunk 2077. Joint CEO Adam Kiciński confirmed in January 2020 that staff members were already “to some extent” working overtime.
When it was reported in September that the studio was mandating overtime – despite previous claims of a “non-mandatory crunch policy” – to get the game ready for a November launch. The game continued to decline for three weeks until December 10.
Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed three times last year, but Bloomberg’s sources claim management said delays before 2020 were not an option. Despite the timeline looking unrealistic, the studio was keen to release before Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 launched or even announced. it could “double dip” with next-generation versions at a later date.
CD Projekt’s stock price fell 30% over the course of December, partly as a result of the backlash, but Bloomberg reports they are up 6% following Iwiński’s apology.
Despite the controversy, Cyberpunk 2077 sold more than 13 million copies worldwide in its first ten days