The infamous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was a low point in CD Projekt Red’s history. With hype levels at critical mass, the RPG released in a buggy, unoptimised, and downright unfinished state that was so bad the PS4 version of the game was pulled from the PlayStation store. The company’s share price tanked, investors filed a class action lawsuit, and CDPR’s reputation was left in tatters.
Yet at the same time, Cyberpunk 2077 was a huge commercial success, and CD Projekt used some of those profits to fix its broken blockbuster. Its 2.0 patch, combined with the excellent Phantom Liberty expansion, addressed many of the RPG’s problems, successfully turning around the game’s reputation and cementing its place as a roleplaying great.
As far as I’m concerned, all is forgiven. But CDPR co-CEO Michał Nowakowski doesn’t believe this is the case for everyone. In a live interview at DevGAMM Gdańsk republished in the Edge magazine’s Knowledge newsletter (via GamesRadar), Nowakowski lamented that Cyberpunk’s launch debacle likely lost the studio some fans permanently.
“I’m not 100 per cent convinced we went through the full redemption arc,” Nowakowski told interviewer Jörg Tittel. “I’m convinced that we lost the faith of some people indefinitely, and that’s a fair thing. But I do hope we will be able to make it back—if not with The Witcher 4, then with whatever comes next.”
While there may still be some holes in CDPR’s reputation, the experience of fixing Cyberpunk did leave the studio in an advantageous position. Not only financially, but also in terms of its team. “We were left with seasoned, battle-hardened veterans; leaders who were able to carry a different kind of challenge on their shoulders,” Nowakowski explained.
This, according to Nowakowski, is why CDPR was able to spread into a multi-project company, with both The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2 currently in production, as well as the mysterious Project Hadar. The goal is to become a more prolific developer. But not too prolific.
“Our dream is to be making more games, although we never want to turn into the studio that’s going to be launching a big game every year,” Nowakowski said. “It may happen. But this is not the goal. We have a rough ten-year rolling plan, but the goal is not to flood the games market with CDPR games.”
It’s going to be a while before we see the results of CDPR’s more prolific structure. The Witcher 4 isn’t due until 2027 at the earliest (and I suspect is more likely to arrive in 2028). Cyberpunk 2, meanwhile, may not arrive until 2030.
This is probably why CDPR has greenlit a third expansion to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Songs of the Past, which is being built by The Thaumaturge developers Fool’s Theory, is due to be released next year. The expansion is expected to provide a big extra chunk of Witcher-ing, estimated to be similar to Blood & Wine in scope.
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