Cyberpunk 2077 was higher than reviewers gave it credit score for when it first launched, but it surely struggled to beat a “a important mass of negativity”, the VP of PR and communications for studio CD Projekt Crimson has mentioned.

In a far-reaching interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Michał Platkow-Gilewski admitted that Cyberpunk 2077’s “street was bumpy” between its first pre-release previews – together with that now-iconic look from Keanu at E3 – and eventual launch in December 2020, going through “massive strain” as the results of the hype surrounding The Witcher 3 dev’s long-awaited subsequent undertaking.

As you could bear in mind, 2077 confronted a number of delays – amidst reviews of heavy crunch regardless of CDPR promising it wouldn’t occur – earlier than ultimately launching to widespread complaints of bugs starting from poor efficiency, corrupted saves and digital camera issues to crazy issues like vanishing penises and far more critical points like epilepsy triggers. Even so, it nonetheless managed to promote like neon hotcakes, setting a brand new file on Steam. (However not on PlayStation, the place it was briefly pulled from sale and supplied for refund as the results of its messy state.)

Whereas Platkow-Gilewski didn’t shrink back from admitting that Cyberpunk had its issues – calling the launch “a tricky second for everybody” and saying “We knew that we needed to work arduous to come back again” – he did push again on the concept that 2077 was as unhealthy as just about everybody mentioned it was. As a substitute, a part of the issue was extra that it grew to become “cool” to hate on the buggy, damaged recreation round its launch.

“I truly imagine Cyberpunk on launch was means higher than it was obtained, and even the primary opinions had been optimistic,” he mentioned. “Then it grew to become a cool factor to not prefer it. We went from hero to zero actually quick.”

With one thing to show within the wake of 2077’s reception, Platkow-Gilewski mentioned CDPR set to work on fixing issues, each within the recreation and throughout the studio itself.

“It was a wake-up name, to say: ‘Let’s rebuild, let’s restructure, let’s rethink… What can [we] study from this?’ It is not a simple repair,” he mentioned, including that the transfer to distant working in the course of the pandemic had made issues much more tough.

“We’re bettering, rebuilding, reshaping the studio on so many ranges that it is arduous to say exactly what’s occurring. However work-life steadiness, how we work collectively, how we empower even smaller groups, what are the pipelines, how we communicate with administration, all that… it is consistently altering.”

Since Cyberpunk 2077’s launch, the sport has been patched a number of instances, bettering AI, visuals, efficiency and far more moreover, in addition to including new options resembling a path-tracing Overdrive Mode. Platkow-Gilewski mentioned that the efforts come as a part of an understanding that CD Projekt Crimson wanted to “repair our relationship” with gamers by finally delivering on Cyberpunk’s promise.

“The one factor we are able to actually do is simply ship what we’re able to,” he defined.

“The most important factor was standing up and saying ‘We now have to do it’. Sure, we had been anticipating a unique launch for Cyberpunk, however now now we have one other likelihood in entrance of us. For me, because the particular person accountable for communication, I wish to rebuild the reference to players, as a result of we had folks following us for years and so they had been disenchanted. That, for me, is the most important factor. We now have to make the sport for them.”

The following step on that journey is 2077’s upcoming growth, Phantom Liberty, which sees Idris Elba’s NUSA agent Solomon Reed be a part of Keanu’s Johnny Silverhand in Evening Metropolis this September. Platkow-Gilewski steered that the size and ambition of the growth in comparison with smaller updates exhibits how a lot effort the studio continues to place into the sport.

“For us, expansions are actually essential,” he mentioned. “After we add content material… now we have DLC that’s free as a result of they do not contain loads of effort, after which now we have folks engaged on one thing extra vital, for an extended interval, and there is a value for that. That is an growth.

“For us, an growth must be visibly massive. Within the base recreation, now we have Keanu, so we mentioned, ‘If we will do one thing else vital, we want an actor who can [represent that] and present that this is not some small facet mission, however a giant chunk of content material that we care about.’”

The full interview with Platkow-Gilewski is nicely price studying for its usually candid take a look at one of many extra troubled recreation launches in latest reminiscence, and the continuing efforts to claw again goodwill amongst followers who had been left feeling burned.