CD Projekt Red thinks that the massive backlash Cyberpunk 2077 received at launch ultimately helped make it a better game in the long run. Based on the classic Cyberpunk tabletop RPG franchise and featuring a sizable list of big-name talent (including Kenau Reeves as rebellious rockstar Johnny Silverhand), Cyberpunk 2077 built a massive amount of hype during its long development cycle and the lead-up to its 2020 release, helped in no small part by the goodwill developer CD Projekt Red had built up with the successful Witcher series.
This made the eventual controversy surrounding Cyberpunk 2077’s launch all the more noteworthy. The game was plagued with numerous game-breaking bugs and glitches, and several previously announced features were missing when Cyberpunk 2077 first hit consoles, with the backlash being so severe that outlets like the Xbox online store briefly offered refunds for disappointed players. It wouldn’t be until at least a few years after Cyberpunk 2077’s launch that the game was able to shake off this bad reputation, thanks to several welcome update patches and a full DLC story campaign.
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While looking back at the initial launch of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Project Red senior VP of technology Charles Tremblay says that the backlash might have helped save the game. In an interview with The Mirror, Tremblay said that while the negativity CDPR received when Cyberpunk 2077 first came out remains a painful memory, it drove the developers to put more energy into fixing the game’s many issues and led to an end result much better than what would have come without that initial feedback. “At the end side, if you think about it, if the success of the game would have been what we originally expected, would it be the same game that we’re playing today? I don’t think so.”
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As mentioned before, it took many years and several big update patches to bring Cyberpunk 2077 more in line with what CDPR had promised players at launch by fixing the worst of the game’s technical issues and implementing some of the features that were cut from its initial launch. 2023 saw the release of Phantom Liberty, Cyberpunk 2077’s first and only story-based DLC expansion that saw V journey into the dark underbelly of Dogtown on a mission to rescue the President of the New United States.
At the end side, if you think about it, if the success of [Cyberpunk 2077] would have been what we originally expected, would it be the same game that we’re playing today? I don’t think so.
Now CDPR has shifted its focus toward Cyberpunk 2077’s eventual sequel, which might not have been possible without the major effort the developer made to salvage the original game following its disastrous launch. Not much is known about the tentatively-named “Project Orion,” save that it might take place in a new city described as “Chicago gone wrong.” CDPR is also working with Netflix on a follow-up to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the hit 2022 anime that was arguably just as instrumental in changing the public’s perception of Cyberpunk 2077 as its post-launch content.
Cyberpunk 2077
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 76 /100 Critics Rec: 66%
- Released
- December 10, 2020
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Publisher(s)
- CD Projekt Red
