CD Projekt exec claims it "became a cool thing" not to like Cyberpunk 2077 after launch
"We went from hero to zero really fast."
Cyberpunk 2077's launch was "way better than it was received" but "it became a cool thing not to like it", a CD Projekt exec has claimed.
VP of PR and communication Michał Platkow-Gilewski made the comment to GamesIndustry.biz while reflecting on the launch of the game.
"I actually believe Cyberpunk on launch was way better than it was received, and even the first reviews were positive," he said.
"Then it became a cool thing not to like it. We went from hero to zero really fast. That was the tough moment. We didn't know what was happening. We knew that the game is great, yes we can improve it, yes we need to take time to do it, and we need to rebuild some stuff."
Cyberpunk 2077's launch was an infamous disaster.
This was for a number of reasons, not least of all the unplayable buggy state of the game on consoles compared to PC.
There was a positive response to the game in reviews - including Eurogamer's own Cyberpunk 2077 review - but, importantly, these were conducted solely on PC, which gave a false positive on the state of the game.
Sony even pulled the game from the PlayStation Store due to the bugs - hardly the result of the positive response Platkow-Gilewski implies.
Still, updates to the game have vastly improved the experience and the release of the Netflix anime Edgerunners has brought further success.
Platkow-Gilewski insists the company has learned from its mistakes and isn't overstretched, despite the vast number of projects and spin-offs based on Cyberpunk 2077.
"First of all, all these projects are at different stages," he told GI.biz. "It's not that we are doing all that in the same moment at the same stage, because that would be a lot of work. We are thinking about the strategy for the years to come. We really care about our IPs, we want to develop them, we want to create games within them. But also, we want to make sure we are focused all the time.
"We have a lot of discussions, like what is most important right now? Where do we want to go? What do we want to achieve? The discussions we're having are really healthy. It's easy to spread the butter too thin, but we are constantly checking and talking, and we think we know what to do."
Cyberpunk 2077 is set to receive its major expansion Phantom Liberty in September, which so far looks to deliver on CD Projekt's initial promise for the game.