Cyberpunk 2077 Disaster; Unrealistic Ambitions and Disastrous Management
On the one hand, Cyberpunk 2077 is a highly praised work, on the other hand it is criticized for its technical conditon, lack of polish. Jason Schreier's article gives new insight into the turbulent development of the would-be hit.
- Jason Schreier wrote an extensive article discussing the problems experienced by CD Projekt RED;
- We learn about the many troubles that plagued the developers while working on Cyberpunk 2077;
- More than 20 former and current employees of the studio spoke out, so the information is quite reliable.
Marcin Iwinski's explanation of the problems experienced during the development of Cyberpunk 2077 was not warmly received, especially in the Western gaming media. The publication of the video coincided with an article written by Jason Schreier.
Bloomberg's journalist presents anonymous statements from over 20 former and current employees of CD Projekt RED. What emerges is an image of a studio with huge ambitions, but detached from reality. A company that focused primarily on marketing at the expense of actual development when planning the game's development process. Add to that the constant pressure and crunch, resulting from many management errors.
Commenting on Iwinski's statements about the internal testing which supposedly failed to detect many bugs that later plagued the players, the employees strongly disagreed with this thesis. They revealed that many of the bugs were detected and reported, but there was not enough time to fix them.
The same happened with the creation of the engine powering Cyberpunk 2077, which was created simultaneously with the game. The developers working on it compared it to laying tracks in front of a speeding train. This would make sense if the team responsible for the engine had at least a few more months to prepare the foundations for the rest of the team.
Another accusation from the staff is over-focusing on wanting to impress the media and players, which led to us seeing gameplay footage detached from reality. The demo shown E3 2018? The entire thing was created solely for the trade show. This wouldn't be a problem at all if it weren't for the fact that many of the elements present in it weren't implemented into the game and it presented a non-existent version of Cyberpunk 2077.
The topic of Adam Badowski's disastrous management of the team resurfaces on several occasions. Schreier, just like Polish media a few years ago, confirmed what was whispered behind the scenes. In 2016, the development process was rebooted and four years of work were thrown in the trash, which also caused discontent among studio veterans who worled on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Ultimately, they decided to leave the studio.
Schreier added some interesting details on Twitter, for which there was no room in the article. CD Projekt RED studio "boasts" a peculiar process of creating new elements, which lacks any oversight. If an employee wants to do something, they have a free hand, but no one will check whether someone else hasn't already done the same. This obviously leads to duplication and wasted work time. It is also interesting to note that until 2016 the game was a third-person title resembling a mix of the GTA series and RPG. There was supposed to be wall running, flying cars, and many other gameplay elements, which were eventually cut out. The police we are seeing in the game? A feature added at eleventh hour and there was no time to polish it.
When we put all this information together, we get a picture of a game that had no right to succeed, and it's only a miracle that Cyberpunk 2077 is playable on PC. The board of directors believed to the end in "CD Projekt magic" that had previously made it possible to deliver the amazing Witcher trilogy despite the odds. This time, however, Icarus flew too close to the sun and crashed into the water with a splash.
