It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything on CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077, much less from the company. Today that changed as the co-founder of the CD Projekt Red, Marcin Iwiński, has released a short video on what has transpired since its release and what the company is planning to do to win back all of the goodwill that has been lost.
Several factors lead to the demise of Cyberpunk 2077 on the previous generation of consoles, and Marcin Iwiński lays that all out. It’s basically an oral timeline of the events. Most of these were things that many of us speculated on, but hearing it again and officially does carry weight. He states that it was the choice of the management team to release the game, not of the developers. Marcin Iwiński provides a roadmap of what we can expect for the future of Cyberpunk 2077.
As previously mentioned, two major updates are being released for Cyberpunk 2077, and the first one is being released 10 days from now. The second update will be larger than the first and will follow in February 2021.
The next-generation updates for both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S are still in the works. However, there isn’t a specific date of when we can expect to see those. As you’d imagine, CD Projekt Red is busy working on the upcoming patches that will hopefully resolve many of the outstanding issues with the game.
A visual roadmap was also provided, and you can see that below. Take note that the free DLC is ahead of the free next-generation console update. This also means that the next-gen update won’t arrive until after the second half of 2021, confirmed by Marcin Iwiński. A decision that I feel should be reversed, especially since those playing Cyberpunk 2077 are doing so via backward compatibility and aren’t able to take advantage of the next-gen hardware.
A more detailed FAQ that addresses CD Projekt’s plans can be found here.
That said, It’s clear that the company hasn’t given up on Cyberpunk 2077 and has committed to resolving the issues while attempting to win back the trust that has been lost. This follows a rocky launch for the game; while Cyberpunk 2077 went on to sell 13 million copies, all went downhill after reports of the games’ performance and numerous issues appeared. Shortly after this, PlayStation, Xbox, and several other retailers starting offering refunds to those who requested them and even resulted in the game being pulled from the PlayStation Store. At the same time, Microsoft went on to add disclaimers onto its Microsoft Store to warn and caution those looking to purchase the game.
While the company has a long road ahead of them, It is good to see they’re committed to course-correcting the problems that ultimately let them into this situation. After the updates are released, what the gaming community does remains to be seen. As for myself, I shelved my playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077, but I am eager to return to see the improvements once the two larger updates are released. As those waiting to play the next-gen versions on their shiny new PS5’s and Xbox Series X|S consoles, they’re in for a much longer wait.