Cyberpunk 2077 is finally here, and it is all the internet has been talking about as players have been sharing their experiences with it so far. Unfortunately for CD Projekt Red, many of those conversations have centered around how buggy the game is, especially on PS4 and Xbox One.
Those bugs include everything from enemies clipping out of moving vehicles to genitals showing up through V’s clothing.
As someone who got Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4, I’ve had similar issues with glitches, including signs not showing up and palm tree textures flying through my car. Most notably, the game has soft-locked four times in the 20 minutes of hands-on gameplay I’ve experienced so far.
Comparatively, those playing on next-generation consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, don’t seem to be running into anywhere near as many issues. PC players also seem to have smoother sailing as well, though most of that depends on the computer’s specs.
So all of this begs the question: should Cyberpunk 2077 have even released for eighth-generation consoles? On the surface, the simple answer is that it should release on whatever can run it smoothly, right now the jury seems out on the PS4 and Xbox One versions.
When you look at it pragmatically, though, CD Projekt Red was never going to limit its player-base to such a smaller audience. While there are plenty of PC and next-gen players, most gamers are still on PS4 and Xbox One.
If it released on only PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, Cyberpunk 2077 would be missing out on millions of players.
For a huge AAA game like this, missing out on that much income can make or break a studio’s financial targets, especially considering how much time and capital CD Projekt Red has put into the game over the last eight years.
So if they weren’t going limit it to just the next generation, then why not just delay it again instead?
Sure, giving the game more development time would definitely have helped, but Cyberpunk 2077 delaying is already a meme at this point. It’s been eight years and a full console generation since the game was announced, so everyone was already beyond antsy for the game’s release.
You’ve also got to consider shareholders in this discussion as well. There are a lot of investors that likely aren’t interested in waiting any longer for a return on their investment. Right or wrong, that’s definitely something that is on the mind of the executives over at CD Projekt Red.
With Cyberpunk 2077 already being delayed three times over the last few years, another delay would have been a difficult pill to swallow for just about everyone involved.
While the developer & publisher is certainly stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment, CD Projekt Red has proven in the past that a rocky start won’t keep them down. Just look at how beloved The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt is now.
When it released, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt was in a similar state to Cyberpunk 2077. Minor bugs include Roach freaking out in the background of cutscenes, plenty of clipping, and duplicate character models galore.
Other game-breaking bugs like Gwent crashing when you chose to pass or main quest line’s failing to progress were also present. According to an employee at Eurogamer, CD Projekt Red unveiled the game launched with around 3,000 bugs in total.
Yet, three months down the line, it was almost like the bugs never existed. Problem areas like Crookback Bog now ran smoothly and even minor glitches were less prevalent.
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt went on to win numerous Game of the Year awards and is still talked about to this day as one of the best games of the last decade.
So when it comes down to it with Cyberpunk 2077, after nearly a decade of waiting, of course fans have the right to be frustrated when they pay full price for a game that isn’t entirely complete.
I’m one of those players, as having to reload the game multiple times throughout my first hour is anywhere but ideal. It’s going to take time, though, to identify these issues and actually get them fixed.
It’s also important to be patient, as we’ve seen in the past that CD Projekt Red doesn’t simply sit on their hands and do nothing when issues arise.
While it may take time, there is no doubt that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be a completely different game in the coming weeks and months. And hopefully, sooner rather than later, it will be something closer to the quality fans of CD Projekt Red, and The Witcher 3, are used to.
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