display

The view from the helicopter over the night skyline of "Night City" is breathtaking.

Flashing neon signs shine through the foggy night, facades of skyscrapers come threateningly close, after all, the player from the door of the plane has to fight mercenaries of an enemy corporation to land on the roof of a skyscraper.

Explosions are reflected in puddles of water, rays of light feel their way through the darkness - Cyberpunk 2077, the game behind the battle scene, looks simply breathtaking graphically.

In addition, the story of the character “V” is told in an exciting way, Hollywood star Keanu Reeves plays the role of the virtual counterpart “Johnny Silverhand” convincingly and the virtual city “Night City” is a masterpiece of game design.

Even the punk-electro soundtrack - released as a separate album - sounds threateningly fresh and draws you into the action.

display

So far so good, Cyberpunk 2077 has the potential to become a real blockbuster title with revenues over a billion.

The 8 million pre-orders worldwide alone should have brought in around 480 million euros in sales for publication on December 10th.

Sony throws the game from the virtual store

And yet the game threatens to turn into a financial disaster for everyone involved in the Polish game studio "CD Projekt Red".

Because Sony Entertainment unceremoniously threw the title out of its virtual Play Station Store worldwide on Thursday - a process that has never happened in the history of blockbuster computer games.

The stock of the game studio fell within a week from 98 to 58 euros, on Friday alone it was almost 20 percent in the red.

The virtual city "Night City" - a masterpiece of game design

Source: cdprojektred.com

The problem is simple - and almost unsolvable for the programmer: In order for Cyberpunk 2077 to run as graphically beautifully across the screen as described, WELT had to use a gaming PC of the latest generation for its own test.

Hardware value: a good 2500 euros.

display

And even this machine cannot display the game in the best possible graphics setting without the frame rate dropping to slide show level.

Cyberpunk 2077 was advertised not only for PC, but also for Playstation 4 and Xbox One, game consoles from 2013. And their outdated graphics processors make the title look like a poorly made 3D cartoon, with only 15 to 30 images per second.

This means that the game is currently unplayable for all older consoles.

95 percent of all console gamers who do not yet have a device of the latest generation, i.e. either Play Station 5 or Xbox Series X, should demand their investment back in the pre-order.

Problems were systematically concealed

display

PC gamers have it better, but they usually only have the choice between buying a new graphics card for at least 400 euros or turning the graphics down to the level of much older titles.

The game from the future is made for hardware from the future, even the new Playstation 5 has to fight for the title and sometimes falls below the 60 frames per second required for smooth gaming.

The Polish studio “CD Projekt Red” systematically kept this problem secret: the pre-published gameplay trailer, which was clicked 23 million times worldwide, comes from a high-performance PC.

Game testers all over the world also never saw the version for the Playstation 4, only the version for the PC.

Even more: In rigorous declarations of omission, the gaming press was obliged not to publish video recordings from the console in advance.

Accordingly, the millions of pre-orderers reacted angrily when the game on their old consoles not only did not look as promised, but also came with dozens of bugs.

Both CD Projekt Red board members Adam Kiciński and Piotr Nielubowicz apologized publicly.

In a statement, the studio announced that it would reimburse the disappointed pre-orderers for the purchase price.

One should have “paid more attention to the fact that the game could be played better on Playstation 4 and Xbox One.” After some back and forth, Sony also took part in this volte, offered a purchase price refund and initially threw the title out of its digital shop .

display

Now the developers have announced improvement, they want to address the problems in several patches from January.

But even that should not change the fact that the game on the consoles, for which it was originally announced 7 years ago, is not nice to look at.

The drama of Cyberpunk 2077 was foreseeable; it allows conclusions to be drawn about general problems in the video game industry.

Because since the industry overtook Hollywood in terms of sales, game studios have been popular investment objects - and are driven by their investors in the battle for billions in sales.

In 2020, gamers worldwide are expected to spend a good 80 billion dollars on games on PC and consoles.

A blockbuster title like Cyberpunk 2077 can easily make up several percent of this.

Delay of several years

But the financial risks for the studios are also enormous: The development of the title has devoured over 120 million dollars since it started in 2015, plus global marketing costs, which can easily be just as high.

The Polish developers had postponed the game several times over the five years of development, most recently from November to December.

But the marketing campaign in 55 countries had already started at this point - “CD Projekt Red” simply could not afford any further delays.

So the game was launched in its current state - with dozens of bugs, an almost unplayable console version and without various functions that the developers had previously announced.

"It is as if this had not been foreseeable for months," comments British gaming industry analyst Daniel Ahmad via Twitter.

"From the many delays to hiding video from Last Gen consoles to warnings from developers," there would have been many red flags.

CD Projekt Red apparently did not withstand the pressure of expectations.

Vacation bans and overtime

That is why the game industry as a whole has to learn lessons, writes Ahmad.

"This will result in new guidelines for marketing, acceptance and purchase price reimbursement for game studios and platform operators."

display

Last but not least, the industry must pay more attention to the health of game programmers.

Because traditionally they have to deliver “crunchtime” shortly before the release of blockbuster titles, are banned from vacation and have to work dozens of overtime per week.

CD Projekt Red had initially announced that it wanted to do without this measure - and then had to force the developers into the studio at night.

“It becomes abundantly clear that crunchtime not only has a negative effect on the developers' health, but also on the quality of the titles,” continues Ahmad.

For CD Projekt Red, the cyberpunk 2077 debacle not only means losses in the millions in the current year - it also entails a loss of confidence in upcoming titles.

Perhaps the Poles should have simply waited a year longer with Cyberpunk 2077 - then the generation change in the consoles would have progressed further, the game would have been more mature - and the players would be happier.

For the title, the negative PR around the publication is a shame, because it distracts from the actual adventure in "Night City" - because it is still a masterpiece of gaming art.