Cyberpunk 2077 Development Didn't Start Until 2016, E3 2018 Trailer "Was Faked"

A new report fromBloomberg, comprised of several interviews from developers (who requested anonymity to protect their careers), details the various issues plaguing the development process ofCyberpunk 2077up until its troubled launch.

Though Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2012 with a trailer, “the company was then still mainly focused on its last title and full development didn’t start until late 2016, employees said. That was when CD Projekt essentially hit the reset button, according to people familiar with the project.”

Not to mention that the E3 2018 demo, which showed off many of the game’s promised features and impressed both journalists and the general audience, was entirely faked. According to the article: “CD Projekt hadn’t yet finalized and coded the underlying gameplay systems, which is why so many features, such as car ambushes, were missing from the final product. Developers said they felt like the demo was a waste of months that should have gone toward making the game.”

Plenty of other problems arose during development such as studio head Adam Badowski clashing with topThe Witcher 3devs on the game’s direction and causes the latter’s depatures, cultural and language barriers caused by those who only spoke English versus Polish, not hiring enough people for the job, and in one example devs had to make their own shaders on the fly because the tools weren’t available to them otherwise.

This report follows the public apology made by one of CD Projekt Red’s co-founders, Marcin Iwiński,on Twitterlast week. The studio is currently facing two possible lawsuits: theNew York Timesreported that the studio behindCyberpunk 2077could be facing a lawsuitfrom a regulatory filing from Warsaw, Poland. Now according toKotaku,another lawsuitis brewing against CD Projekt Red – this one originating from the US.

The launch ofCyberpunk 2077has been riddled withcontroversy and bugs, with the first update being introduced last week that fixed some issues. The most notable of these problems saw player’ssave files corrupt if they reached over 8MBbut fortunatelyCyberpunk 2077’slatest patch (1.06)has removed the PC version’s8MB save file limit. This is good news going forward, however, for those who had already lost their saves, CD Projekt Red says that unfortunately “this won’t fix save files corrupted before the update.”

Alongside the bugs that plagued its launch, Liana Ruppert from GameInformer suffered a major seizurewhile playing the game. This was due to light patterns similar to those used by neurologists to help induce seizures in patients. It was also later noted that the game didn’t have a clear epilepsy warning at the start of gameplay, something which has now been remedied.

This same RPG has seen its share of other controversies even before launch withreportsoftransphobia, and crunch culture, as well as the studio also refusing to share information about the game’s accessibility. Read up on why we think CD Projekt Redshould have confirmedCyberpunk 2077′s accessibility options sooner.

According to a new report from theBloomberg, executives at CD Projekt took responsibility for the buggy release ofCyberpunk 2077and told staff thatthey will receive their full bonusesno matter how the game is reviewed. Previously, the developers were told they would receive extra pay based on the game’s aggregated critical performance represented by Metacritic.

Areport released by Bloombergfound that the game’s glitches and rocky launch have cost the founders of CD Projekt Redover $1 billion. Over the course of the past week, the company’s stock has plummeted, although not to record lows. That being said in anote to investors, CD Projekt Red’s Management Board has stated that the game has sold a further five million copies on top of the8 million preorder sales, bringing the total units sold to over 13 million. This figure takes into account “returns submitted by retail clients in brick-and-mortar as well as digital storefronts.”

Cyberpunk 2077is currently available for PC, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. As for PS4, retail copies are still around butSony has removed the gamefrom the PSN Store. Meanwhile the official Microsoft storefeatures a statement warning playersof performance issues until the Xbox One version is updated. The game is also playable on theXbox Series X|SandPS5thanks to backward compatibility. You can read our review of the gamehere: “Cyberpunk 2077is a deeply conflicting game, one that you’ll end up loving but will also hate and feel profoundly disappointed by.”