“I don’t see an option to shelve Cyberpunk 2077.”
CD Projekt has vowed to stick with its embattled Cyberpunk 2077, despite concern about the state of the game and the studio’s ability to turn it around.
Upon release in December, Cyberpunk suffered from a raft of crippling technical issues, particularly on consoles, and failed to live up to the expectations set by its pre-release marketing.
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The problems were so bad that Sony pulled Cyberpunk from sale on the PlayStation Store – and Microsoft slapped the game with a performance warning. Refunds were eventually offered for a limited period. CD Projekt also faces class action lawsuits in the United States over Cyberpunk’s troubled debut, and potential legal action from investors.
The fallout continues: CD Projekt has already shelved plans to release a standalone multiplayer Cyberpunk experience, instead opting to add multiplayer features to the existing single-player game. DLC and the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of Cyberpunk have been pushed back. And the company is switching to a development plan that involves creating multiple titles at the same time, as opposed to one monolithic game after the other.
Amid CD Projekt’s uphill challenge saving Cyberpunk, some have wondered whether the studio would be better off leaving the game behind and moving on to other things. But in a new interview with Reuters, joint chief executive Adam Kicinski insisted CD Projekt is sticking with Cyberpunk 2077.
“I don’t see an option to shelve Cyberpunk 2077,” he said. “We are convinced that we can bring the game to such a state that we can be proud of it and therefore successfully sell it for years to come.”
It’s been over 100 days since Cyberpunk was pulled from the PlayStation Store. Perhaps the priority for CD Project is to convince Sony to sell the game once again. The recent 1.2 patch was a step towards this, Kicinski said (check out Digital Foundry’s analysis in the video below), and he also insisted CD Projekt has “friendly relations” with Sony.
Whether CD Projekt can ever get Cyberpunk into an acceptable state on base last-gen consoles remains to be seen. Also up in the air is the extent to which CD Projekt can improve what it has with DLC and expansions. The studio’s Witcher 3, which is now approaching six years old, continues to sell well. Will Cyberpunk 2077 be selling well six years from now?
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