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[Draugoth]

Cyberpunk 2077 team morale took "significant hit" following release, developer says

After Cyberpunk 2077's much anticipated release in 2020 failed to live up to expectations, the team's morale took a "si…

www.eurogamer.net

After Cyberpunk 2077's much anticipated release in 2020 failed to live up to expectations, the team's morale took a "significant hit".

That's according to Colin Walder, an engineering director at CD Projekt Red with over 15 years of experience in the games industry, who previously worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Rockstar titles Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5. Walder recently spoke to invenglobal at the Inven Game Conference in South Korea, where he discussed lessons learned from Cyberpunk 2077.

"This approach we had, the way we were working production-wise, creating demos, and moving towards an agile mindset and workflow - it's about ensuring we're on top of certain things from the start," Walder said. "Take consoles, for example; we need to make sure they're functioning from the get-go. For our next project, Polaris [part of a new trilogy of games in CDPR's Witcher series], we're already running our demos and internal reviews on the console from the very beginning."

Walder admitted: "This is a step we only took later in Cyberpunk's development."

 

[gaming_again]

And look what they ended up producing afterwards. Shame = good.

 

[Reckheim]

Game should of never came out for ps4 and xboxone, that was their biggest mistake. Chasing the easy money and it backfired remarkably.

I'm glad they kept working on it tho, I'm replaying it right now and it one of the best games ever made.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

They certainly did s damn good job making it better. Phantom Liberty is amazing.

 

[balls of snow]

Yeah that Pawel Sasko dude took it pretty rough from what he said on X. But hey, they suck it up, regrouped and delivered a goty level expansion.

 

[TexMex]

So did mine.

 

[Braag]

Yeah that Pawel Sasko dude took it pretty rough from what he said on X. But hey, they suck it up, regrouped and delivered a goty level expansion.

Yeah, I watched one of his regular sunday streams where he plays Cyberpunk and talks about the development of it and he seems like a super passionate quest designed. Apparently for his application when applying for CDPR he had created a massive quest for witcher with the red engine which some people joked was so well put together that it could have been a separate game.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I truly feel sorry for their devs. It has to suck when you pour your heart and soul into something for years, only to see it pushed out before it’s done, against your wishes. Guarantee their devs and QA testers knew better than anybody else exactly what the state of the game was. And they were the ones under the most stress trying to knock out an impossible # of bugs.

I’m glad they had the chance to redeem themselves and not just fix the game with 1.5, but then create an amazing expansion + totally overhaul so much of the base game’s systems. Feels almost like a brand new game and is one of the best action RPGs of all time.

 

[Fake]

Lesson learned. Make good, receive good.

 

[Alexios]

It hasn't improved that much since, tbh, it's not exactly a No Man's Sky situation here (and I think the updates of that are overrated too, the core is largely the same). The linear sequences with fun character interactions between gameplay, of which the expansion has plenty more of, were always fun.

I suppose they were trashed a little more than the game itself deserved given the unacceptable state of certain versions they no longer have to worry about though, without which the overall perception is obviously going to be much better, but doesn't make that any less of a huge mistake or scam.

 

[Fbh]

I guess it's understandable but they should have seen it coming, no? What reaction did they expect to the low res, empty, blurry 20fps version on base consoles?

Game should of never came out for ps4 and xboxone, that was their biggest mistake. Chasing the easy money and it backfired remarkably.

I'm glad they kept working on it tho, I'm replaying it right now and it one of the best games ever made.

Yup. They should have accepted the Ps4/X1 version just wasn't working long before release and refocused their efforts on getting a decent Ps5/SX version ready ASAP.
The story would have probably turned out quite differently, and while the initial sales would have been lower I think the game could have had some legs on consoles.

 

[lh032]

the immersion in this game is still pretty non existent.|

But i do enjoy the game alot for some reason

 

[SimTourist]

They announced it way too early in 2012 or 2013, while the actual development didn't start until 2016 after all Witcher 3 expansions were done. 4 years is nothing for a game of this scale, considering we have copypaste sequels like GoW Ragnarok, Horizon and Zelda that took 5-6 years to make.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Main point here is they sucked it up and went back to work. Its no excuse why they released a half baked product at first but Im not going to shit on somebody that fixed everything and made an even better expansion. Simply, the game was never supposed to be released for last gen.

 

[Roni]

Too bad there's zero chance of some PC exclusives from them... A PC exclusive Cyberpunk title would break the industry.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I guess it's understandable but they should have seen it coming, no? What reaction did they expect to the low res, empty, blurry 20fps version on base consoles?

I’m sure most of them were painfully aware of the exact state of the game and were screaming at the top of their lungs that it’s not ready. If anything that would make it even more demoralizing.

 

[RavageX]

It hasn't improved that much since, tbh, it's not exactly a No Man's Sky situation here (and I think the updates of that are overrated too, the core is largely the same). The linear sequences with fun character interactions between gameplay, of which the expansion has plenty more of, were always fun.

I suppose they were trashed a little more than the game itself deserved given the unacceptable state of certain versions they no longer have to worry about though, without which the overall perception is obviously going to be much better, but doesn't make that any less of a huge mistake or scam.

I personally don't see these big improvements people are raving about. To me it doesnt play any different. Story is the same, characters are the same. The world interactions are the same.

For me it still isnt the game that was planned and never will be. They couldnt make the original ideas happen, didnt own up to the issues, failed on the promised "roadmap" (something most companies that have roadmaps seem to do) and that for me means it will never be more than just an ok game.

I dont care what the graphics look like in the long run, I dont sit and take pictures in game all day. That seems to be the main focus for many ppl.

 

[Magic Carpet]

As someone who buys games. My morale took a hit for this entire generatiion as this was the first game I bought.
What a shitty way to kick off a new generation of consoles.

 

[Rentahamster]

Game should of never came out for ps4 and xboxone, that was their biggest mistake. Chasing the easy money and it backfired remarkably.

Most of their issues wouldn't have happened if they didn't have to cater to the lowest common denominator. I wonder how much time, effort, and money could have been saved if last gen was scrapped earlier in development. When all is said and done, I would like to know if the profits they made from last gen was worth it.

 

[Z O N E]

Game should of never came out for ps4 and xboxone, that was their biggest mistake. Chasing the easy money and it backfired remarkably.

I'm glad they kept working on it tho, I'm replaying it right now and it one of the best games ever made.

100% agree.

 

[killatopak]

I convinced my friend to preorder this with me. I liked it and kept it but he was on base PS4 and inmediately sold it as second hand in the facebook market place.

It really shouldn't have released on base last gen consoles.

 

[Raven117]

Its awesome now though...

 

[MiguelItUp]

Of course they did, just like the team did at Arkane with Redfall. Because not everyone on that team has direct control with what went wrong. They're just excited about going gold and release. But then seeing the reviews, negative comments, etc. It can really beat you into a pulp. But some people just don't know when to stop, and they just take in all the info they can.

Not saying they weren't warranted, both had a very rough time. At least the situation has improved for for Cyberpunk. Can't say the same about Arkane and Redfall though. Still such a shame.

 

[alucard0712_rus]

It not about what happened, everything can happen. It's how you react to that.

 

[BootsLoader]

Omg I can’t believe their morale took a hit. Omg.

 

[KungFucius]

I truly feel sorry for their devs. It has to suck when you pour your heart and soul into something for years, only to see it pushed out before it’s done, against your wishes. Guarantee their devs and QA testers knew better than anybody else exactly what the state of the game was. And they were the ones under the most stress trying to knock out an impossible # of bugs.

I’m glad they had the chance to redeem themselves and not just fix the game with 1.5, but then create an amazing expansion + totally overhaul so much of the base game’s systems. Feels almost like a brand new game and is one of the best action RPGs of all time.

The game was good on PC. It wasn't perfect, but it was a good game that looked pretty amazing. It had less bugs than Starfield. Most devs only really knew that. They wouldn't be aware of how shitty the PS4 version was unless they worked on that.

 

[hyperbertha]

Game should of never came out for ps4 and xboxone, that was their biggest mistake. Chasing the easy money and it backfired remarkably.

I'm glad they kept working on it tho, I'm replaying it right now and it one of the best games ever made.

They are an amazing developer, done dirty by some shitheel execs.

 

[Burger]

Were they upset because they took money for something that was broken?

 

[proandrad]

Moral about to take another hit once they start working with that unreal engine.

 

[kunonabi]

I personally don't see these big improvements people are raving about. To me it doesnt play any different. Story is the same, characters are the same. The world interactions are the same.

For me it still isnt the game that was planned and never will be. They couldnt make the original ideas happen, didnt own up to the issues, failed on the promised "roadmap" (something most companies that have roadmaps seem to do) and that for me means it will never be more than just an ok game.

I dont care what the graphics look like in the long run, I dont sit and take pictures in game all day. That seems to be the main focus for many ppl.

Not to mention a bunch of stuff they promised still never made it into the game. I mean I'm playing it now and it's just another solid, albeit very buggy, 1st person western RPG.

 

[Saber]

As long they learned something.
The worst type of people is not the one that makes mistakes. It's the one that keep making the same mistakes and refuses to learn from them.

 

[SJRB]

Well no shit. Imagine working on a game for six to eight years (including crunch) and see it get pushed out the door long before it was ready and getting obliterated by reviewers, gamers and longtime fans alike.

Must've been brutal. Vibes at the office were horrendous, no doubt.

Let's just hope the gonks in management learnt from their mistakes. Either way, version 2.0 and Phantom Liberty are one hell of a redemption arc. Amazing comeback.