In an open discussion with the investors, CD Projekt Red professes to conceal the gameplay footage of Cyberpunk 2077 on last-gen consoles, citing the game’s “unfinished” work-in-progress state.
The disclosure comes after the backlash from dissatisfied consumers who were dismayed with the last-gen output of the game. A censure that, as it stands, results in many flocking both Sony and Microsoft for refunds.
Speaking during an investor’s call, CDPR co-founder Marcin Iwinski spoke to the crowd:
“We’ve actually shown console footage, but never on the last-gen consoles. The reason is that we were updating the game on last-gen consoles until the very last minute, and we thought we’d make it in time”.
For a game that sees glorious results on PC, it’s quite evident that CDPR’s priority during the game’s development was not on either PS4 or Xbox One. Indeed, shed light on Iwinski’s given statement.
Missed opportunity
The idea might seem odd considering both platform’s combined player base. Which, putting it to numbers, would be roughly 140+ million. Something that the Cyberpunk 2077 devs should capitalize on by coming up with a satisfactory product.
Technically, CD Projekt Red has, in fact, been capitalizing on the hype for the game. So much so that they made the release for the last-gen consoles, despite its rough state. Essentially, striking the iron while it is hot—only not in the best condition possible.
Driven by the hype, the Polish studio boasted of making some 8 million pre-orders for the game, the 3.28 million of which coming from both the PS4 and Xbox One consumers. That’s a lot of numbers, especially knowing that it recouped the game’s combined cost over development and marketing.
A problematic release
With the embargo lifted a day after the game’s official launch, many issues arose, revealing what CDPR has been trying to hide by imposing a restriction on gameplay footage. Instead, giving the already excited gaming community a false impression of what it’s actually like, if not running on PC.
The game, while playable, is a buggy and unstable mess and suffers from drastically lower visual fidelity than the PC version. Without yet the “next-gen” renditions, it means that those who own either a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S are also seeing the poor quality of the game.
Inevitably, console owners felt cheated, such that the repercussions affected CDPR in more than just issuing refunds en masse. Following all the drama, the consequence also sees CDPR’s shares dropping by a massive count. Subsequently, leaving the company’s almost, if not already, billionaire top brasses losing millions of money.
Image used courtesy of GameRiot/YouTube Screenshot