The developers who worked on CD Projekt Red's long-awaited AAA title Cyberpunk 2077 aren't pulling their punches when it comes to the game's controversial launch.
According to Bloomberg, staffers directed harshly worded questions to board members during a meeting on Dec. 17, shortly before Sony pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store. These questions included why the company told fans the game was "complete and playable" in January and whether management felt it was hypocritical to release a game about corporate greed while forcing employees to crunch.
Since Cyberpunk 2077's release, players have been reporting a number of graphic issues, glitches and crashes that significantly affect gameplay on last-gen consoles, especially PS4. Players have also reported that the game can cause epileptic seizures, with many requesting a warning as well as a long-term fix for this issue. As such, Sony and Microsoft are now issuing full refunds to those who request them, while the studio issued a formal apology to gamers.
"After 3 delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game," CD Projekt Red Co-CEO Adam Kiciński explained. "We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles. It was the wrong approach and against our business philosophy. On top of that, during the campaign, we showed the game mostly on PCs."
"This caused the loss of gamers’ trust and the reputation that we’ve been building through a big part of our lives," he continued. "That’s why our first steps are solely focused on regaining those two things. We are concentrated on fixing Cyberpunk on last-gen consoles. The first substantial set of fixes was released over the weekend. The next set of fixes will be released within the next seven days. Big updates are planned for January and February, together with smaller fixes. Of course, PC gamers will also be getting regular updates and fixes to improve the game. We will do everything possible to prove that we stick to our values."
Developed by CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia and PC.
Source: Bloomberg