Cyberpunk 2077: CD Projekt responds to Behind-The-Scenes Development Investigation

Game news Cyberpunk 2077: CD Projekt responds to behind-the-scenes development investigation

Based on twenty testimonials collected over several months, Bloomberg returned to the development of Cyberpunk 2077 through a survey published on Saturday morning. CD Projekt declined to respond to the journalist’s requests, but studio director Adam Badowski took to Twitter to comment on some points.

Adam Badowski evokes first the “distorted” demo presented at E3 2018, the first time Cyberpunk 2077 has appeared since its announcement in 2012 (actual development would not have started until 2016). In his investigation, journalist Jason Schreier claims that “The demo was almost entirely bogus. CD Projekt had not finalized and coded the game systems, which is why many features, such as car ambushes, were missing in the final game. The developers said that ‘they felt the demo was a waste of months’ time that should have been spent playing the game instead “. Here is Badowski’s reaction:

It’s difficult, for a trade show demo two years before the game’s release, not to be a vision test or a “vertical slice” (a demo model specially designed to give an idea of ​​the finished product, Editor’s note) , but that does not mean that it is “distorted”. Compare the demo with the game. Watch the scene with Dumdum or the car chase, or many other things. What people reading your article might not know is that the games aren’t made in a linear fashion, and they start to look like the end product just a few months before launch. If you watch this demo now, it’s different yes, but that’s what the “work in progress” watermark is for. Our final game looks better and plays a lot better than this demo. Adam Badowski, director of CD Projekt.

He comes back to the “missing” features that were promised – or at least mentioned – by the developers, but which are not present in the final game:

It’s part of the creation process. Features come and go as we see if they work or not. Also, car ambushes exist in the end game almost unchanged from the demo. And coming back to the release, the vision that we presented in this demo evolved into something that got, on PC, several 9 out of 10 and 10 out of 10 from many video game media around the world. As for older gen consoles, yes that’s something else, but we take responsibility for that and work hard to fix the bugs (on PC too – we know it’s not a perfect version either. ) and we’re proud of Cyberpunk 2077 as a game and an artistic vision. All of this is not what I would call disastrous.

The director of CD Projekt then responds to the claim that many Cyberpunk 2077 developers knew the game would never be ready for release in 2020:

You spoke with 20 people, including some former employees, and only one who did not remain anonymous. I wouldn’t call it “most” of the over 500 employees who openly said what you claim.

Finally, Badowski comments on the testimonies evoking a form of sidelining of foreign developers because of the fact that some employees speak Polish in front of them, which is prohibited by CD Projekt’s regulations:

Everyone here speaks English during meetings, every email and company-wide announcement is in English – all of which is required. The rule of thumb is to switch to English when there is a non-speaking person in a casual conversation. It is, however, quite normal that Germans speak German, Poles speak Polish, Spaniards speak Spanish (there are 44 nationalities in the studio, you get the idea) when there is no one else around. We work in a multicultural environment. If the question is whether it is difficult to change countries, sometimes cultures, work and live there, then the answer is yes. But it’s universal for all businesses around the world, and we’re doing what we can to make this transition easier.

Jason Schreier a answered to Badowski’s message: “CD Projekt chose not to answer specific questions or make Badowski available for our article, so it’s interesting to see those comments coming in now.”, he commented. He also regrets having raised the subject of language given the “disproportionate attention” that this has taken. “Note, however, that Badowski does not address the brutal crunch and unrealistic schedule. I would be happy to interview him at any time.”, he concludes.

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