CD Projekt issues statement apologizing for Cyberpunk 2077

Yesterday, one of the Co-Founders of CD Projekt, Marcin Iwiński, issues a video statement apologizing for the state in which Cyberpunk 2077 launched on consoles. He also provided an updated schedule for the fixes that are planned for release for the game, as well as DLC, and the Xbox Serie X/S and PS5 versions.

Iwiński explained that even though the game received some fantastic reviews on PC, the console version simply wasn’t up to the standard expected by them internally, or from fans of the developer. He added that he and the entire leadership take responsibility for the situation and are incredibly sorry.

He outlined what the issues had mainly been caused by. The developers had worked as hard as possible to get the game running as well as possible on high-end PCs. The plan from there was to downgrade the game later in the development cycle. This is a task that they internally underestimated, leading to the delays and ultimate condition of the game at launch for consoles.

Part of the downgrading process was checking and testing every single change that was made. This testing wasn’t enough to detect every bug and glitch that came with the downgrades though. As the release day approached, everyone thought it would be possible to get all the fixes done and released as a launch day patch.

Iwiński went on to talk about how the developer released review copies to PC reviewers in early December, and waited until 2 days before the game’s launch, to send out console review copies. He explained that every extra day of development for the day one patch was making the game better, which is why the console release keys went out so late.

He also noted that with everyone working from home due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, every process was slightly more awkward and challenging than it would have normally been. A lot of the dynamics between team members were lost due to working via email and video call instead of in person.

Two key things were not touched upon. The first is the fact that CD Projekt Red issued an NDA to reviews stating that they had to use B-roll from the developer, not their own capture footage. The second is the fact that Joint-CEO of CD Projekt Adam Kaciński told investors that the game was running “surprisingly well” on older consoles two weeks prior to its release date.

From here on out, CD Projekt is delaying the release of two DLC packs. They were intended to launch closer to the main game, but too much work needed to be done to make it run well first. These will now launch after two major bug fix updates have been released. The first will launch within 10 days, and the second will follow in the weeks after.

Finally, the release window for the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 versions of the game has been narrowed to the second half of 2021. With so much work still to do on the game on consoles right now, fans would almost certainly wait to play a decent version of the game, rather than a rushed out one.