Few games in history
have experienced a launch as chaotic as
Cyberpunk 2077.
—
When the game launched in December 2020,
it was supposed to become the future of gaming.
Instead, it became one of the industry’s biggest scandals.
—
The numbers were brutal.
Sony completely removed Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store.
CD Projekt RED lost nearly 50 billion zlotys in market value, equivalent to more than 130 billion dirhams at the time.
Players reported: crashes,
missing features,
game-breaking bugs
and severe performance issues.
—
Many believed the studio’s reputation was permanently destroyed.
Remember, this was the same company behind
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,
often considered one of the greatest RPGs ever made.
—
Now, as development of
Cyberpunk 2 continues,
CD Projekt RED says it has learned its lesson.
—
Studio executives recently explained that one of their biggest mistakes was trying to market the game as revolutionary before it was actually ready.
Developers also admitted that internal pressure and unrealistic expectations contributed to the disastrous launch.
—
This time, the company promises a different approach.
Less hype.
More testing.
More quality control.
And most importantly:
not showing players features that might never make it into the final game.
—
The irony is that Cyberpunk eventually became one of gaming’s greatest comeback stories.
Today the game has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.
Its expansion, Phantom Liberty,
sold more than 10 million copies on its own.
—
What nearly killed the studio
eventually became one of its biggest successes.
But CD Projekt knows it got lucky.
Very few companies survive a launch that bad.
—
That’s why Cyberpunk 2 may be the most important game in the studio’s history.
Not because of sales.
Not because of graphics.
But because it will prove whether CD Projekt RED truly learned from the mistake that almost destroyed everything they had built.
—
And after what happened in 2020,
players no longer want promises.
They want proof.
