CD Projekt Red management has addressed several questions about console versions of Cyberpunk 2077, giving an idea of why it works poorly on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
On Monday, December 14, opening a conference call, joint CEO Adam Kiciński acknowledged that despite strong sales and comments on PCs, Stadia and users on next-generation consoles, comments from older devices were “very much for below our expectations “.
At the time, four members of the management team faced questions from shareholders, mainly focusing on current issues with the state-of-the-art console SKU, but also touching on other aspects of game development.
Many shareholders questioned how negative comments on the release and the need to fix issues with the console edition will affect DLC, multiplayer and The Witcher 4 plans, but management offered no comment at this time.
One person who called asked for clarification on the recent report that CD Projekt Red had changed its good structure in the face of bad reviews, but the company declined to comment on that as well.
No questions were raised about the presence of epileptic triggers or whether the study imposed a mandatory seizure during the pre-release period, which did not yet prevent a further delay in play.
“We were updating the game on the latest generation consoles until the last minute and we thought we would get it in time.”
Marcin Iwiński, CD Projekt Red
Since the release of Cyberpunk last Thursday, much of the talk has focused on bugs, glitches, and low performance on next-generation consoles.
Revision scores also suffer, with Metacritic’s initial 91 score for the PC version now down to 89, and scores for early consoles are considerably lower. At the time of writing, the PlayStation version had a Metacritic score of 52 seconds seven reviews, while Xbox is at 55 seconds five reviews.
Cyberpunk 2077 was originally scheduled for release in April, before being delayed to September, then to November, and finally to December 10th. Although Michał Nowakowski of CD Projekt Red, a board member responsible for the publication, denies that there was any external or internal pressure to start to date, several members of management acknowledged that the study focused primarily on the PC edition and in the smooth running of the game on next generation consoles.
“After three delays, we, as a board of directors, were too focused on launching the game,” Kiciński said. “We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for extra time to refine the game on basic next-generation consoles. It was a wrong approach and against our business philosophy. moreover, during the campaign, we showed the game mainly on computers. “
Earlier this week, the company apologized for showing only the game running on high-end machines. When later asked why, the joint CEO, Marcin Iwiński, said: “The reason is that we are updating the game on the latest generation consoles until the last minute and we thought we would do it at time.
“Unfortunately, this resulted in giving it to the reviewers just a day before the release, which was definitely too late and the media didn’t get a chance to review it properly. That wasn’t intended; we’re fixing the game until the last moment “.
CD Projekt Red admitted it was “too focused on launching the game” to recognize how many problems occurred when playing on state-of-the-art consoles
One shareholder asked if the development of the game could have benefited from more staff, to which Nowakowski replied, “It’s not really about the number of people.”
He continued: “It’s not like throwing in it – in the last month – about 200 people would help. So the answer is no; this is not related to the fact that we could have thrown 300 or 500 more people into the fight and the things would have happened differently. “
“As for the certification process and third parties, this is definitely on our side.”
Michał Nowakowski, CD Projekt Red
Kiciński added that the COVID-19 pandemic “did not help” with the quality control process. Internal testers were able to test the game running from home with devices provided by CD Projekt Red, but external testers were unable to do so. Still, he said he “wouldn’t point it out as a major source of trouble.”
Nowakowski also addressed shareholders’ misconceptions that the studio may have abandoned the PS4 and Xbox One versions and released only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S. reiterated that full versions of the next-generation game are separate SKUs and will not be released until next year.
“It’s not like we could have decided at some point recently to‘ turn the switch ’and change the old generation version to the new generation version and launch it only to the next generation,” he said. “There’s no next-generation native version. The game runs on next-gen and takes advantage of next-gen performance, but it’s not like we have a new-generation version on our hands and decided to keep it on the shelf. . “
Management was also asked if it believed Cyberpunk issues on consoles showed shortcomings in the certification process for Microsoft and Sony platform holders, which Microsoft has since promised to improve after reports of epileptic triggers in the game.
But Nowakowski said the blame is on CD Projekt Red.
“As for the certification process and third parties, that’s definitely on our side,” he said. “I can only assume that they were confident that we would fix things after the launch and that obviously they didn’t come together exactly as we had anticipated.”
He also discussed the claims that the game could not be played on state-of-the-art devices, adding: “It’s not like the game didn’t start … I fully understand that the experience is far from satisfactory for a lot of people, and we recognize that, but “it can’t be reproduced,” it seems like nothing starts, which is not the case. “
He acknowledged that console versions are faltering compared to PC editions, but added: “This is something we’ve said before: you can’t expect PC-like performance or a new generation in the PC. last generation, and we are not saying that. “
The study reiterated that its priority is to fix Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 and Xbox One, with the first initial improvements already released and much closer. These will be followed by big patches in January and February.
A shareholder asked if the price of the next-generation version would be reduced after the February patch, to which Nowakowski said there are no plans.
When asked if the development of these patches affected CD Projekt Red’s claims that Cyberpunk 2077 was already profitable, CFO Piotr Nielubowicz said: “The cost of hitting the game is irrelevant compared to what we already have. spent “.
Kiciński addressed questions about whether this affects the number of people in other projects, including the upcoming Witcher game, saying things are “normal outside of Cyberpunk teams,” which were scheduled to work on patches at the time independently.
“It will probably take longer, but of course we are also branching out and working on future projects,” he said. “We are also planning a holiday; people are tired and, regardless of the situation and regardless of the patches, we will not continue to work as before; our people need to rest a bit. We will have a strong team working on the patches at least until February.” .
Elsewhere in the call, he added: “We really hope that our efforts will allow us to rebuild the confidence we have lost.”