Cyberpunk 2077 And The Rocky New Year of Games

The review embargo on “Cyberpunk 2077” has been lifted and reviews of the game have been posted all over the internet. The reviews have been generally positive, but some reviewers such as “layman gaming” on YouTube and IGN have noted that the game has frequent bugs. This does not completely kill hype for the game but is disappointing due to the long wait that many people have had for the game. The disappointment that I have felt has stemmed from the history of delays that the game has faced.

The game was originally marred in 2020 by the two delays that happened in the summer and later in the fall which placed the game’s release date on December 9^th. The delays painted a negative picture for the development timeline created by the developer CD Projekt Red and showed that the developers had panic crunched to get the game ready even with months’ worth of extra time. Sadly, after the extreme crunching of most of the CD Projekt Red employees there is still plenty of quality-of-life issues that impact the game. This buggy review copy has shown that hard crunching does have side effects when it comes to the overall quality of life of the release game.

The fact that bugs plague the game is another example of how bad planning and unrealistic deadlines can impact the final product of a game on release. Another example of a rushed project is Bioware’s Anthem which is much more egregious than CD Projekt Red’s “Cyberpunk 2077” but shares a similar fate of the crunch curse. No matter how much you push developers to make a perfect product the cracks will show in the end. Unfortunately, the practice of major crunch will most likely effect major titles going into next year.

The lack of winter releases and launch titles for both consoles compared to previous generations might mean that upcoming 2021 titles that were meant to launch with the console will be riddled with issues. Some titles that were meant to release in 2020 are still being pushed into 2021 with some crunch being assumed. The upcoming title for even older consoles will most likely still suffer from the effects of the current pandemic and rushed development cycles. This disappointing situation has hampered “next-gen” aspirations.

For many people, the new console generation has been defined by delays, disappointment, and disastrous launches. Unfortunately, it looks like the chaotic state the game industry seems to be in will continue until summer 2021 unless something changes. This has dampened the hopes of Sony and Microsoft who have waited a long time for their latest consoles to be released. PlayStation and Xbox will most likely start to hit their prime in the second quarter of 2021 when most initial games are out and optimized.

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