Cyberpunk’s botched launch is completely indefensible

How the mighty have fallen. CD Projekt Red was once the chosen one. They were supposed to bring a measure of sanity back to gaming, not leave it a broken mess. Yet in the immortal words of Angry Joe, they done fucked it up.

To call Cyberpunk 2077 “broken” is putting it mildly. The game in its current state is complete and utter shit. All versions seem to be riddled with bugs. However, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports seem to have it particularly bad. Not only do they have bugs, but performance and visuals would be considered sub-par even for early PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games. We’re talking 720p resolutions, frame rates that dip into the single digits, abnormally long load times, and some of the worst texture and model pop in I’ve seen in my 25+ years of gaming. The Witcher 3 looks and runs better on the Switch for Christ’s sake than Cyberpunk does on much more powerful systems.

Now, as a PC gamer, this certainly isn’t my first rodeo with shoddy releases. The Master Race has borne the brunt of a lot of horrible ports over the decades, and I’ve certainly had some doozies. However, this may very well be the single worst AAA release I’ve seen in a very long time. Yes, I’m including Fallout 76 in that assessment. At least with that game, we knew what to expect going into it. Even though Bethesda has been stingy about reviews, there was a public beta. So the game’s shortcomings were common knowledge ahead of its release date, allowing fans to make at least a somewhat informed decision. And that’s really the crux of the issue here.

If CD Projekt had just released a sloppy and buggy game, with the gall to charge $80 for it, that would have been bad enough. There’s no way Cyberpunk should have been released to consoles in the state it’s in. I wouldn’t even call it a beta. However, they appear to have willfully misled customers by telling them the game ran fine on older hardware, when it clearly did not. They promised this to gamers just a few week prior to launch. So they would had to have known there was no way to fix it in time. From where I’m standing, it’s obvious some rather big fibs were being told in order to cover up the mess and keep investors happy.

Adding insult to injury, they also refused to give out review copies to the media. Now, the mainstream games media has had it out for this game for quite some time. At least since that poster featuring the “lady” with what appears to be a bulge so big it would make Ron Jeremy envious. With so many “journalists” trying to strip mine anything remotely popular for rage bait and political activism points, I can understand why they would shut them out. Yet at the same time, it looks like they were deliberately trying to hide the poor state the game was in. Nobody would have bought it otherwise. While a few “influencers” (shills) did get pre-release copies of the game to cover it, they were allegedly told not to include their own gameplay footage. That right there is a huge red flag.

In fairness, CD Projekt has acknowledged the issues and offered to refund anyone who bought the game. Which is a lot more than most other publishers would do. You certainly won’t see EA admitting to their mistakes that quickly, if at all. That said, this whole situation is absolutely inexcusable. The game should have been delayed until it was done right, or at the very least, functional. I hate to keep bringing up that rather trite quote from Shigeru Miyamoto, but he hit the nail on the head with it. A delayed game will eventually be good, a rushed game will forever be bad. Then again, I guess he’s never heard of George Broussard.

Pouring salt into the wound is the fact that CD Projekt was, up to a few days ago, one of the most trusted publishers in the industry. The Witcher 3 has often been called one of the greatest games of all time, and deservedly so. Plus their work on GOG has helped keep a lot of older classics alive for new generations. The company has done a lot of good for the industry, and built up a lot of goodwill amongst gamers. Yet in just a few short days, they’ve managed to piss it all away.

I’ve brought up the trust issue multiple times on this site. It’s gotten to the point where you can no longer buy a game and just expect it to work, or that undesirable features won’t be added down the road. Even if it’s from a supposedly trusted developer. They can all be expected to pull the wool over your eyes at some point. You’d have better luck getting a quality product at Crazy Vaclav’s Place of Automobiles.

Then, whenever the industry does screw up, they try to sweep their mistakes under the rug in hopes that nobody will notice. Or they try to gaslight you into thinking you’re the problem. It’s just fortunately gamers aren’t being called toxic manbabies this time for being justifiably upset. Probably because the industry’s media goons aren’t rushing to their defense this time, unlike a certain company staffed by poorly behaved canines.

This just goes to show why you should never, ever pre-order, and never purchase games at launch. Those who chose to wait will inevitably get a better experience. That is if the game ever gets patched. And judging by what we’ve seen so far, that’s a really big “if”.