Cyberpunk 2077 and early advertising

Cyberpunk 2077's tumultuous release and subesquent lambasting from once-eager fans is one that will not soon be forgotten by anyone in the industry, with such a groundswell of hype from CD Projekt Red's hotly anticipated game which was their first standalone release since the often revered Witcher III: Wild Hunt that was all dashed in seemingly an instant. The September release of Cyberpunk was punctuated by disappointment from fans over bugs, crashes, lacklustre graphics and an open world that was nowhere near as amazing as pre-release trailers made it out to be.

Pre-release images were far more impressive than the game was on many platforms (image courtesy of CD Projekt Red)

In the months that followed, CDPR went to damage control, as they promised fixes to all versions of the game and reflected on the management decisions that had ended with the game releasing in the state it did. However, one of these attempts to regain the support of fan backfired as co-founder Marcin Iwiński, in a video addressing the release of Cyberpunk 2077, stated that "issues did not come up during testing", a comment which many scrutinised as placing the blame on QA testers that, according to reports, had very little sway over fixing the many issues the game had.

All this has culminated in a press release from CD Projekt's Investor Relations branch released earlier today which outlines the company's plans going forward, shifting to a different method of both development and, more importantly, marketing.

In this video, staff members from CD Projekt detailed their plans to shift towards "parallel AAA game development" in which multiple games are developed alongside each other with the teams working on these projects collaborating and using the same engine so development can be easier for both teams. Alongside this also comes a plan to shift to "annual roadmaps" which focuses on goals within the next year rather than stuff beyond that, which came alongside plans over the next year for the Cyberpunk and Witcher IPs.

Notably, Michał Nowakowski, a board member of SVP Business Development, announced that from now on, marketing campaigns would start much closer to a game's release and he states that this is based on the feedback they got from Cyberpunk 2077. While this is a hopeful sign for the company going forward, it is also indicative of the industry at large and the culture of hype and announcements that can easily backfire.

Events like E3, the Game Awards, PAX, and many others are built around the promise of game announcements and updates, with their main draw being the trailers showing off new and returning IPs that spur on excitement and discussion among fanbases. Pairing this with pre-order bonuses, day one patches and limited editions, it's clear that the entire industry is geared towards building up this hype and encouraging game purchases before release which only increases the risk of a disappointed fanbase after the game has released.

Dying Light 2 was announced in 2018 and hasn't had many updates since (image courtesy of Techland)

There are other cases similar to Cyberpunk 2077, with the other famous overhyped game being No Man's Sky which, while it did manage to improve over time and is now a well-enjoyed game by many, started its life under scrutiny by fans and critics alike. More recently, the official twitter account for Dying Light admitted that they announced Dying Light 2 too early in response to concerns that the game was in development hell, perhaps tempering expectations after seeing the fallout from Cyberpunk being released eight years after first being announced.

Between this and CD Projekt investors noting the flaws in the company's marketing strategy, the cracks in this system of hype have become more noticable and, going forward, you would hope games that endure longer development cycles would be put under a more tempered lens, considering that even though the project has been in development for many years, it might not necessarily be the game that many would be hoping for. Given how profitable the amassing of hype can be it's doubtful that many studios would be so willing to let go of it entirely, however these events mark companies starting to consider the potential impact this excitement could have on the end product if it isn't up to standard.

Unfortunately, CD Projekt can't undo the initial impressions of Cyberpunk 2077, but they can learn from it in their future projects, taking into consideration what they can reasonably make within a certain time frame and when they decide to reveal their projects. What's more, other developers can take this lesson in stride without enduring the same ordeal that CDPR has undergone these past few months. The future of the Cyberpunk IP is dependent on how 2077 is handled going forward, but without a doubt the future of CD Projekt, at least for the moment, will be dedicated to avoiding a release like this for a long, long time.