Monday, December 14th 2020
CD Projekt Red Removes Critic Score Requirements for Developer Bonuses, and an Editor's Thoughts
CD Projekt Red has announced that all of its developers will receive appropriate bonuses for their hard work in Cyberpunk 2077. These developer bonuses are usually dangled in front of developers with several caveats added, such as sales targets, critical reception based on Metacritic (of all things), and other factors. However, the company has decided to forgo these requirements in light of the hard eight years of toiling, and the prolonged periods of crunch with six workdays, that it put its team through. This is a wise decision, and one that shouldn't really have to be lauded - it should be common practice. But since it isn't, here we are, and CD Projekt Red deserves the accolades.
Cyberpunk 2077 achieved an 8 million pre-order milestone before it was ever released; that many pre-orders meant that the game had essentially recouped its development and marketing costs before it ever went gold. Of course, somelast-gen console returns might take a bite into those sales numbers, but ultimately, it's a game that has been very well received, despite its many bugs and crashes. Sales figures are only going to increase from here on, and that means every sold copy of the game is another bill on the company's coffers.
This particular editor has been playing the game in a PS4 Pro system, and yes, the game has bugs. It does. I've seen numerous visual bugs, had the game crash on me five times in 10 hours of gameplay, seen the overall AI dumbness, saw enemies clipping through geometry and thus preventing me from completing missions... But I still remain in awe at the sheer scale of the game and CD Projekt Red's vision, and I've only ever reloaded the game without skipping a beat after such crashes. It's too big a dream to be achieved without any snags whatsoever. I am marveled at the expansiveness of the world they've created, the perfect Cyberpunk tone, the intimistic side quests, the attention to word detail, and the overall package (bugs notwithstanding, and not referring to my characters' genitals size).
I believe the game remains a testament for CD Projekt Red's ambitions, and am happy that the game will only improve from here. I don't feel like a beta tester, I don't feel defrauded by the company. I wish they'd delayed the game further to work out all these kinks, but I still see Cyberpunk 2077 as a love letter to the genre, and it's exactly my dreams of seeing Neuromancer in gameplay form. CD Projekt has earned my last-gen money, and will earn my PC version money as well when some expansions have been released (and I get myself an RT-capable card). Kudos to all the CD Projekt Red developers who toiled hard to make this game a reality. And thank you. I'll see you in Night City.
Source:
TechSpot
Cyberpunk 2077 achieved an 8 million pre-order milestone before it was ever released; that many pre-orders meant that the game had essentially recouped its development and marketing costs before it ever went gold. Of course, somelast-gen console returns might take a bite into those sales numbers, but ultimately, it's a game that has been very well received, despite its many bugs and crashes. Sales figures are only going to increase from here on, and that means every sold copy of the game is another bill on the company's coffers.
I believe the game remains a testament for CD Projekt Red's ambitions, and am happy that the game will only improve from here. I don't feel like a beta tester, I don't feel defrauded by the company. I wish they'd delayed the game further to work out all these kinks, but I still see Cyberpunk 2077 as a love letter to the genre, and it's exactly my dreams of seeing Neuromancer in gameplay form. CD Projekt has earned my last-gen money, and will earn my PC version money as well when some expansions have been released (and I get myself an RT-capable card). Kudos to all the CD Projekt Red developers who toiled hard to make this game a reality. And thank you. I'll see you in Night City.
18 Comments on CD Projekt Red Removes Critic Score Requirements for Developer Bonuses, and an Editor's Thoughts
I can open the Unreal editor right now and make a map that is a square of a million by a million miles, biggest map ever...and also completely empty, nothing to do....
I get it, I get what you are saying, the city looks amazing, it really does but this is the problem with so many open world games, big open map aaaand zero to do, now games from lets say....7 years ago? like gta5? put random events in the map to give players somethign to do and obviously stuff to interact with and cyberpunk is missing that soooo badly.
The AI is completely unacceptable, why do cops just spawn and why do they spawn anyway.... why do they never drive cars, does MaxTacever show up apart from that scripted event? why cant I ride the damn train?!?! you could do that even in GTA freaking 3....
Like honestly the people who made the city deserve credit but whoever was responsible for filling it up messed up really badly...heck think of The Devision and all the little things you find there in that somewhat open world.
Iv'e never played a single GTA, so I don't know what people mean by "empty world" when the map is full of quest markers. What made GTA world full of things that CP doesn't do ? (It's an honest question). When I think of big empty world I think of Darksiders 2 where the game was physically large, but had a really limited number of side quest
If it wasn't for the bugs and performance issues this would be a GOTY material for sure. I know it's mine for sure, it takes the spot from Ghost of Tsushima.
While the game is very expansive with lots to do within the city itself, it is still somewhat of the typical cookie cutter activities. As Chomiq said, the main story is where its at. And even then, I have done side missions where there is a lot more thought out about it. Just did one about the "Light that never goes out" I believe its called. A murderer who found God in Prison kind of thing. And while it never actually results in anything, it still was an interesting side quest that had a lot to it in itself. Something I haven't seen in games like GTA for instance where their side missions are far more cut and paste. So if you do those side missions and not random events, you still get a lot out of it and an interesting story outside of the main story. With of course main story so far being very solid.
This is how i see it:
1) Typical gamers
2) My PC can't run it!!!!!!!!!
3) People who played games such as Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl, DayZ Mod, Fallout: New Vegas, Batman: Arkham Knight, Elder Scrolls series and so on. On release date!
4) Those who realized you don't even need a crack to play (illegaly) downloaded version.
Personally i absolutelly love this game. Yes there are few bugs, but nothing game breaking and if there's an NPC stuck on my way - i always have shotgun by hand :D Going to do every single side quest and whatnow just to not finish this game too soon.
I will probably get it as like the Witcher 3..................that is when the GOTY is out and on sale for $20.
Hmmm come to think of it I think I got 15 minutes logged on Witcher 3 goty...............hopefully have some time this holiday break to actually playing it.
This is a problem, as almost always, of expectations in limited time developement, which most of the time are set by publishers and investors. It's similar to No Man's Sky, we got this team really wanting to do all they said but they need more time to do it and Sony wants it now.
I have enjoyed the game a lot. I still have to play more in the future when things have been patched.
To early of an release? = for sure eventhough I have not experienced the bugs
Performance issues? = for sure
Worse than alot of other games put out? Not so sure
To be honest, I think the expectations set by the users (and marketing), but mostly the users, had reached utopian levels and would not have been met unless it was a gta 6, witcher 4 + deus ex 6 all in one, and had no bugs, looked next gen on ps4 and was performed like doom. Did they promise this? They proberbly promised alot, but I think alot of eager gamers convinced themselves that the game would be the answer to everything, which nothing can withstand.
I usually try to compare a singleplayer game to a movie when it comes to value. I look at the hours I had fun playing it, what is the price/hour ratio. Unless I think it is utter crap, the value vastly surpases that of a movie. Granted a movie is a super dense and 100% narrated experience, a game (both good and bad), gives you some of that adding a freedom to explore dwell and effect. I you spend half of your time reading other peoples bugs and go full on in the cristism culture, anything fun in the world can suck bigtime. Im not trying to undermine anyones experience but I think alot of people have a tendency to ruin their own enjoyment of the world around them (be this a game or any experience.)
My advice is that if you feel that the game is unplayable on your console pc / refund it for sure if you dont want to wait for the optimization, but if you are into story driven gameplay like mass effect / witcher / deus ex with a good sprinkle of gta, then Cyberpunk is an amazing game (at least until now) Again my flow in userexperience is easyly disrupted due to my occupation, but Until now (Cyberpunk 2077 on a 3900X and 1080Ti 1440p high/ultra), have been and is an mesmorizing experience. GJ to the devs; marketing: you should proberbly have prosponed the ps4 release even further but I can see how that might not be possible, and I look forward to the patches in jan and feb. Of all the shit that has happened in 2020, Cyberpunk is not one of them!
Yes, the AI is stupid as a bale of hay, but honestly? Its not very relevant. Later on the enemies you get that are not just armed with the good old AR are actually challenging, especially melee can be nasty stuff. But most of the time you'll prefer stealth, and then finishing combat quickly or not seeing it at all. The game isn't really built around long drawn out shootouts, if you're doing that, your build is shit and you're doing it wrong in my impression. The perk trees also motivate action over cover gameplay. You're either hacking, hacking and slashing, or hacking and shooting, especially later on when baddies get serious, you'll be using any tool you can find and quickhacks open up lots of options.
Why do cops just spawn... did you really think they casually drove from the precinct back in GTA? The way they spawn is not always clean. Agreed. Minor change... nothing to get your panties in a bunch about. I've had ONE random cop spawn in a weird moment, all others were plausible and deserved... I'm 25 hours in.
Interactivity is not perfect, you're right its not GTA. Its Cyberpunk, a different game from a different studio. If you want GTA, play GTA?
In the end its your loss really. This game is a new milestone in overall style points, setting, atmosphere and immersive qualities and combines emergent gameplay from both Fallout and GTA in a lovely, gloriously playable package. It has better gunplay than Fallout, better melee than Dying Light and even has parkour if you look for it. It has deep enough skill trees to replay it all over again. But hey, do worry about some accidental spawns buddy...Would be inclined to agree here. Its like we need to be all grateful for fair reward here? I mean, if you produce a blockbuster and sales cannon like this a bonus is the least that can be done. Its certainly NOT compensating for crunch time, because crunch time is in fact overtime and should certainly be awarded 200% payout IMO. We're talking about mental work here, its not easy to keep doing for a long time, and almost impossible to 'train'.
I am a true Witcher fan. Played it from the first game all the way through. I respect CD Projekt a lot. They seem to be a very sympathetic game developer and have heart for gaming and customers.
And yes the game has bugs (and no for me not really game breaking) But what mainly disturbs me is the unrealistic animations and sloppiness about details. It's a very unpolished game. They focussed on the quantity of the content and not the quality. Put the bar too high for the size and capabilities of their employees.
I am talking about cars making 90 degree turns and floating instead of naturally turning as physics would allow them... I'm talking sitting next to the bloke in the first mission and the car turns left nervously and him not turnign the steering wheel in any direction... I'm talking him walking through a wall.
And then my main grip with the game is the controls... It's clearly made for console controllers.. With mouse and keyboards it's sluggish. I am constantly feeling I'm lagging behind. And that's not FPS. I'm hitting 75-90 FPS steadily on 5900X+6800XT. The character just won't move and the shooting feels awkward.. it's a console game. My friends that play with keyboard and mouse noticed it too but my buddy playing with an Xbox controller feels completely natural about it. I think that says enough.
I just can't get immersed into the world with all the things that grab my attention (car animations, character animations, AI etc etc) and shake me awake that it's so plastic and unnatural. I constantly feel everything is off... And that's not the point of this type of game.
And then the graphics. It all looks so plastic on whatever setting... I can max out what I want but that doesn't make anything look more realistic. I think the graphics are overhyped. GTA V and RDR 2 did more for me.
Personally I think the game would be a great console game one day after smoothening out the bugs but as a PC gamer I expected more.
And this is of course just my opinion. I'm not taking away anything from people that love this game. There are tons of reasons why you could love this game. I get that. But a world that's full of weird crap that constantly remind me how fake it is just doesn't immerse me in any way.
Epic games was very quick with the refund. Props for that.