CD Projekt Red changes the way it makes games after Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous launch



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Polish game studio CD Projekt Red announced a massive restructuring plan on Tuesday, just months after the disastrous launch of its high-profile title Cyberpunk 2077. One of the key objectives of the new plan is “a change in the way [the studio] develops video games, ”according to a press release. The changes will allow CD Projekt Red to work on “multiple AAA games and expansions in parallel” from 2022.

Cyberpunk 2077 launched in December after years of hype; the first trailer for the game was released in January 2013. And following the huge success of CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3, expectations were high for the studio’s cyberpunk RPG, especially after the glitzy, action-packed trailers featured in the months leading up to the game’s launch.

But the game, released after multiple delays and a six-day developer work week before launch, was riddled with bugs and performance issues when it was finally released, especially on older consoles. The performance was bad enough that Sony made the extraordinary decision to remove Cyberpunk 2077 on the PlayStation Store and offering refunds. (More than 100 days later, Cyberpunk 2077 has not yet returned to the store.)

In the months since its launch, CD Projekt Red has released numerous fixes, updates and even fixes for updates in an effort to consolidate Cyberpunk 2077 problems and make it work properly. (Just yesterday, the studio released an update with hundreds of fixes, though there still appear to be some hilarious bugs.) Many of the plans announced on Tuesday appear to be serving to prevent another high-profile fiasco.

One major change is that CD Projekt Red plans to change the way its proprietary REDengine game engine is developed, which could improve the performance of future games. “The Studio’s REDengine technology will be enhanced and centralized, while the Studio’s reorganization into a set of interdisciplinary agile teams will transform the way games are developed, making its approach more proactive,” said CD Projekt Red. Theoretically, these changes could avoid issues in future games where games perform much worse on older consoles, as many have experimented with. Cyberpunk 2077.

Single-player RPGs “will remain our priority,” Michał Nowakowski, the studio’s senior vice president of business development, said in a statement, and you can expect to see more of them. Cyberpunk and The witcher. “We also see the enormous potential of both The witcher and Cyberpunk, and we want to broaden their reach to include new areas, media and types of content, ”Nowakowski said.

Despite the emphasis on single-player mode, CD Projekt Red plans to expand the online capabilities of its games, although the studio has not been specific on what those features might be. These online features will gradually be rolled out to CD Projekt Red games, the studio said.

And perhaps recognizing that the multi-year promotional campaign Cyberpunk 2077 may have turned against him, CD Projekt Red is committed to changing the way it promotes its future games. “Future marketing campaigns will be much shorter, with promotional content released closer to the actual release of the given game, showcasing how it works on all supported hardware platforms,” CD Projekt Red said. The company is also committed to publishing a new roadmap each year.

The studio is also committed to improving the working conditions of its employees. “CD Projekt will remain an inclusive and diverse workplace; however, we also want to focus on the well-being of our employees and provide them with opportunities for professional and personal development, ”studio director Adam Badowski said in a statement. CD Projekt Red did not provide further details on the changes to be made.

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