CD Projekt admits mistakes with Cyberpunk 2077, but celebrates recovery

A CD Projekt Redrenowned Polish game developer, recently admitted that the troubled launch of Cyberpunk 2077 in December 2020 seriously compromised its reputation in the market. The game, which was one of the most anticipated of the decade, hit stores full of bugs and performance issues, especially on previous generation consoles.

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Game development was hampered by the pandemic

Michał Nowakowski, co-CEO of the company, acknowledged in an interview that the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the game’s final development. “The isolation caused by Covid came at the worst possible time“, stated Nowakowski, referring to the months leading up to the launch originally scheduled for spring 2020.

The sudden shift to remote work has made communication between teams enormously difficult. Nowakowski explained that in previous crisis situations, it was possible to get everyone in a room to discuss the problems. With remote work, meetings with hundreds of people have become impractical. “Not ideal, let’s say“, commented the executive about attempts to use Slack channels to facilitate communication.

The disastrous launch resulted in a 30% drop in the value of the company’s shares in just one week. Developers described this period as “devastating”, “desperate” and “heartbreaking”. Nowakowski himself classified it as “one of the worst moments of my life“.

Cyberpunk 2077 turned things around

In the days following the launch, CD Projekt leadership held a series of crisis meetings at all levels of the company. “We recognize that what happened was a big, big challenge and a big blow to the company“, admitted Nowakowski. The initial priority was not financial, but rather understanding the extent of the problems and drawing up a recovery plan.

Despite the turbulent start, the story of Cyberpunk 2077 took a surprising turn. Four years after release, the game and its acclaimed expansion Phantom Liberty have sold tens of millions of copies. Complaints about performance and bugs have practically disappeared. The game’s universe expanded to other media, with the success of the Edgerunners animated series on Netflix and the announcement of a new live-action production.

Marcin Momot, global community director at CD Projekt, described the shift in public perception as “overnight.” The game recently achieved an “Extremely Positive” rating in user reviews on Steam. “Cyberpunk 2077 has risen from the dead“, resumed Momot.

What contributed to the game’s resurgence?

The game’s recovery is the result of years of hard work by the development team. CD Projekt has implemented significant changes to its organizational structure, adopting an “agile” system that divides developers into multidisciplinary “pods”. This approach allowed for more efficient collaboration between the different areas involved in creating the game.

Pawel Sasko, mission director, explained that each “pod” includes professionals from 22 different disciplines, from environment artists and animators to visual effects and quality control specialists. This new structure was essential for identifying and fixing game issues more quickly and effectively.

The experience with Cyberpunk 2077 left valuable lessons for CD Projekt. Nowakowski emphasized the importance of learning from mistakes: “We have to face this and learn from it. If we didn’t, I don’t think there would be a place for us as a company in the future“.

Although skepticism regarding the company’s future releases still persists among some players, the CD Projekt team remains optimistic. The resurgence of Cyberpunk 2077 serves as a powerful reminder of the gaming industry’s ability to reinvent itself and overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Source: Eurogamer