It is now clear that Cyberpunk 2077 is a bit of a disaster, especially on consoles. During a recent conference call with CD Projekt Group’s board of directors, executives said they knew the game was broken prior to its December 10 launch.
CD Projekt president and co-CEO Adam Kiciński opened a presentation to investors yesterday with notes about the giant, cybernetic elephant in the room: Cyberpunk 2077‘s performance on consoles.
The game launched “way down.” […] expectations, ” Kiciński explained, further saying that management had “ ignored the signs ” that more time was needed to ensure Cyberpunk 2077 was ready for the base platforms PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
“It was the wrong approach and went against our corporate philosophy,” said Kiciński. “In addition, we mainly showed the game on PCs during the campaign.”
“We definitely haven’t spent enough time watching [PlayStation 4 and Xbox One performance], ”Added Vice President Michał Nowakowski later in the call.
When asked why Cyberpunk 2077 was not shown on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One before release, billionaire co-CEO Marcin Iwiński explained that they kept the console version to the public as they worked on the game until release.
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“The reason [we didn’t show the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One] is that we were updating the game on the last generation of consoles to the very last minute, and we thought we would make it in time, ”said Iwiński. Unfortunately, this resulted in it being given to reviewers the day before release, which was certainly too late and the media did not get a chance to judge it properly. That was not the intention; we were just fixing the game to the very last minute. “
I am not buying the picture that these executives paint here. Last year, chief designer Paweł Sasko said Eurogamer that CD Projekt had every version Cyberpunk 2077 Rotate “always” to monitor parity between platforms. They must have suspected that performance on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One fell short of expectations, an assumption supported by the studio’s attempts to keep those versions under public scrutiny for as long as possible. You don’t fool around with console images and review codes like CD Projekt did until launch unless you know your game is broken.
Looking back, it becomes clear that this atmosphere of eclipse around how Cyberpunk 2077 performed on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One was ingrained in marketing. As Iwiński noted, the only console images they showed were of the game running on last-generation souped-up platforms such as PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, or the backward compatibility of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. But with it compare the CD with limited images Projekt released for the analysis of outlets such as Digital foundry, which shows constant framerate drops no matter which last-gen console is used, even that is suspicious.
Speak against Wccftech in July 2019, UI coordinator Alvin Liu spoke Cyberpunk 2077‘s graphics on less powerful platforms.
“We’re aiming for consoles as premium platforms and it looks great there,” said Liu. So if you, you know, spend $ 2000 building your PC rig, of course it will look better. But the graphics are pretty amazing for what you are going to get Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles and low-end PCs. “
Liu wasn’t part of the marketing team, of course, and Cyberpunk 2077 was still more than a year away from his release when he made these statements. It’s entirely possible developers on the ground thought the game would be ready for consoles at launch and had no intention of being misleading. That said, it’s much more difficult to give the same leeway to corporate management statements in the months immediately leading up to the December 10 release.
After Cyberpunk 2077 used to be postponed for a second time, CD Projekt vice president Michał Nowakowski downplayed his concerns about the game’s performance on last-generation consoles during an interview with investors in October.
“[T]there’s nothing wrong with the Xbox or PS4 versions – there’s optimization that needs to be addressed, also because of the way we approached things from the start in terms of development; so – there’s no problem with Xbox or PlayStation 4, to be fair, ”Nowakowski said.
CD Projekt executives even held up this facade during the company most recent financial presentation on November 30, less than two weeks before Cyberpunk 2077 was set to launch.
“Obviously a little lower than on pro consoles, but surprisingly good, I would say, for such a huge world,” said CEO Adam Kiciński, in response to a question about how Cyberpunk 2077 performed on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One because it was still hidden. “That’s the answer.”
What happened to Cyberpunk 2077 is unfortunate, not just because of his eight-year hype campaign but also because of the toll it took for developers to get out the door. Making a game is hard even without a pandemic breathing down your neck. I don’t envy the position that CD Projekt has taken for itself by taking on such an ambitious (ahem) project, not to mention the workers who had to suffer from poor management and then watched the game be ripped to shreds because executives needed the boost to their bottom line.
That said, the conscious way the studio both took care to preserve footage and impressions from it Cyberpunk 2077 turning on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One away from the public and isolating themselves from criticism by enlisting influencers and likable journalists is downright reprehensible. This is just another example of how the fraught, capitalist relationship between developers, consumers and the press (both professional and enthusiast) can be shamelessly exploited, and I think it is high time that the industry first looking at the mirror. we continue to normalize these toxic business strategies.