Despite being announced in 2012, Cyberpunk 2077 launched in a devastatingly broken state, throwing the hype train right off the rails. When players aren't contending with countless bugs and glitches in the RPG, they are scratching their heads in bewilderment, wondering how this could have happened.
Unfortunately, fans rarely get a glimpse behind the curtain, and the true story behind games' developments are rarely told. CD Projekt Red is unlikely to ever let the public know exactly what went wrong, so all people have are theories based on small bits of evidence and minor statements from anonymous developers. Whatever the real reason, fans hope they fix the issues soon.
10 Real Development Was Only A Few Years
Just because a game is announced does not mean work has started on a project. In 2012 CD Projekt Red was hard at work on The Witcher 3. Even after the game's release, it is doubtful full time development started until after The Witcher 3's DLC expansions. Small teams were probably testing things out beforehand, but all hands were likely not on deck until 2016 for the open-world game.
9 COVID
They say game development is a huge mess until only a few months before a project is done. With this in mind, every step of the way is vital, especially the end. Testing and bug fixes were likely the majority of the last several months of development, just in time for the COVID pandemic to hit the world. Adjusting to working from home likely took some valuable time which could have otherwise been used to fix more technical issues.
8 Rushed To Please Fans
Some feel the game was rushed to shelves despite not being finished to please fans, a vocal minority of whom were cruelly boisterous about their displeasure about the delays. However, this was likely not the case. At the end of the day, other factors were more important in having the game come out on December 10th instead of cooking for a few more months.
At the same time, some fan behavior has been despicable in several ways, ranging from death threats towards developers to harassing reviewers who they feel unfairly scored it either too high or too low.
7 No Direction
It does not matter how long a game is in development if there is no solid direction among the team. One theory about the game's terrible state at launch is the lack of solid goals throughout most of the production. The team may have spent more time experimenting and figuring out new ideas instead of actually crafting the game people are playing today. Imagine a director shooting scenes without a script or even knowing if these scenes are going to be a part of the finished film.
6 Crunch
Crunch during the development of Cyberpunk 2077 has been well documented. The main lesson is how crunch is actually detrimental to a project. Working unrealistically long hours to accomplish a massive amount of work compromises the final result. Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to CD Projekt Red and has been prevalent in the industry almost since its inception.
5 Needed To Please Investors
Release dates are not as simple a matter as estimating when you think the game will be done. A publicly traded company like CD Projekt Red has to please investors. Announcing Cyberpunk 2077 was coming in 2020 and then letting the date slip would have likely had catastrophic effects on their stock value. However, such a negative reception has had its own detrimental effects, such as massive returns and a lawsuit.
4 PS4 Was An Afterthought
The PS4 and Xbox One versions are a whole other controversy. Despite being announced and promised to run well on these systems, the game barely functions. Sony recently removed the game from the PS Store altogether. This leads fans to think the version was an afterthought altogether. Despite this, all marketing implied a solid experience on the older hardware. This all proved to be a lie, and the company had to know they were fooling consumers. Fortunately, the game runs much better playing the same versions on the new consoles via backward compatibility.
3 They Thought They Could Get Away With It
CD Projekt Red probably thought they could get way with releasing such a broken product and fix it later. After all, they did a similar thing with The Witcher 3. In the older game's defense, it was not nearly as unplayable.
The saddest thing about this point is they likely are right. The game has sold thirteen million copies so far, and returns are not likely to make a big dent in this. The reception may have a worse effect on their next game, however.
2 Bad Management
When a team goes through crunch, it is usually chocked up to bad team management. The heads of a studio have to know how much work the team can do and in what amount of time. By forcing the studio into crunch and making them work weekends, they not only prove they are bad at their jobs, but they also show that they do not care about employees' health. CD Projekt Red needs some serious reevaluation to ensure such a situation does not repeat itself.
1 They Felt It Would Not Effect Their Bottom Line
It had to impossible for everyone not to realize how broken Cyberpunk 2077 was. Those in charge likely did not feel like it would significantly affect their bank accounts. Like with other entries on the list, they were right. The company will likely come out ahead after this whole debacle is over, thanks to their reputation and the marketing. Since companies mostly care about money, it is hard to tell if the CD Projekt Red's behavior will change in the future.