Cyberpunk 2077 creators talk about their project

Current and former developers of CD Projekt Red told Bloomberg about how the Cyberpunk 2077 game was created. The project was launched in 2016, with plans to release the game only in 2022.

What problems did the developers face?

CD Projekt Red only implements one major project every 2-3 years. The studio made a bet on a new hit. The creators of the game hoped that Cyberpunk 2077 would become as popular as Witcher 3. But they did not think that it would take so much time to create a new game.

The original version of the game was heavily modified, requiring the studio to invest heavily. Cyberpunk 2077 is based on the updated RED Engine 4. It was worked on at the same time, but greatly slowed down the process. But everything would have been easier if the creators had had 2 months to spare.

Adrian Jakubiak – former sound effects programmer of the studio said that one of the employees during talks with the company’s management clarified how the process could be completed faster. The answer was ambiguous. He had no idea how much of a failure the venture would be.

The game was announced back in 2012, but it didn’t start working until 2016. Company executives demanded a complete redesign of Cyberpunk 2077’s storyline and gameplay. The opinion of the studio’s CEO did not coincide with the vision of the project by the lead creators. As a result, they left the company at the beginning of the project.

What were the Cyberpunk 2077 developers trying to achieve?

At first, the studio tried to impress the players. The first announcement with gameplay was released back in 2018. Everyone was surprised by the studio’s ambition. But no one assumed that this ad was a mere fake. At that point in time, the base systems of Cyberpunk 2077 hadn’t even been worked out. The creators said that the game’s demo was just a waste of studio staff time.

Since 2018, intensive work on the project has begun. But many employees noted that they were under constant pressure from studio managers. They did not receive any extra pay for overtime work. Many employees started having problems at home. No one understood why they were working 13 hours a day. Despite these measures it was not possible to speed up the process and the game was not scheduled to be released until 2022.

What measures did the creators of the game resort to?

Denial of the Cyberpunk 2077 game’s features allowed us to bring the project’s release date closer. About 500 studio’s employees worked upon its creation. The team’s work was not organized. The studio management required the creators to speak to non-Polish employees in English. But these rules were not followed by everyone.

The game’s release was constantly postponed. In 2022 many users expressed their dissatisfaction with this approach. After the release of patches for Cyberpunk 2077 the situation has slightly normalized. But the previous trust in the creators was no longer there.

In 2021, the company stated that a lot of mistakes were made in the game. The studio’s management regrets what happened, and admits its fault to the users. CD Projekt Red was testing, and the creators found numerous bugs, but there was no more time to fix them.