CD Projekt Red has apologised for the launch state Cyberpunk 2077 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and commits to avoiding crunch on future projects.
CD Projekt Red has published a video apology and website Q&A addressing the poor quality of Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox and PlayStation consoles.
In the five-minute-long video, studio co-founder Marcin Iwiński publicly “owns up” to the debacle, saying:
“We made it even more difficult for ourselves by wanting to make the game look epic on PCs and then adjusting it to consoles—especially old-gens. That was our core assumption. And things did not look super difficult at first, while we knew the hardware gap, but ultimately, time has proven that we have underestimated the task. To give you a concrete example, and the main culprit, we had to constantly improve our in-game streaming systems for old-gen consoles. Streaming is responsible for feeding the engine with what you see on screen, as well as the game mechanics. And since the city is so packed, and the bandwidth diverge is what it is, this constantly challenged us.”
Iwiński adds that internal testing did now reveal all of the problems experienced by many players. In fact, they believed that the improvements they were making for the day zero patch would be enough to address many of the issues.
The first in a series of fixes for Cyberpunk 2077 will be released within ten days and will be followed by regular “bigger and smaller” patches. In the website Q&A, CD Projekt Red adds that these updates will be produced without the development team engaging in crunch, saying:
“The team is working to bring relevant fixes to the game without any obligatory overtime. Avoiding crunch on all of our future projects is one of our top priorities.”
Time will tell if CD Projekt Red keep these commitments, but such is the nasty taste in our mouths from the whole affair, it feels like much too little, way too late.
For those holding on to Cyberpunk 2077, here is the game’s revised roadmap.
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