Home Gaming Cyberpunk 2077 might still be years away, as CD Projekt RED tempers expectations after E3 showing

Cyberpunk 2077 might still be years away, as CD Projekt RED tempers expectations after E3 showing

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Cyberpunk 2077 might still be a ways off

The Cyberpunk 2077 demo was the most talked about behind closed door event I’ve ever seen at an E3, and for good reason. With nearly an hour of gameplay to share, CD Projekt RED gave attendees a really good idea of the direction they’re taking with their new RPG, which has some drastic changes from what they’re used to after three Witcher games. It was a demo that was polished, stunning and quite surprising, if only for the fact that it seemed like the game was further along than most expected. But according to CD Projekt RED, that was the intent – and it doesn’t really indicate the progress of the entire project accurately.

The demo was shown off to more press in Warsaw this week, and CD Projekt RED CEO Adam Kiciński was present to share more information about the development process. According to at least one report (which has been translated from Polish), Kiciński made it clear that the demo represented the most polished slice of the game that the studio had currently, and that the process as a whole is not yet in an Alpha state. It’s pre-alpha. In short, Cyberpunk 2077 is still a while away, despite the demo seeming like a small portion of a much bigger project.

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This is also why the studio is choosing not to release to footage to the public, waiting instead for more progress to be made before millions of fans get to pick apart every little detail possible. That’s smart, given the nature of games development. There are features present in the current demo that could easily be stripped and changed over the months of development leading up to release – a fact which is often lost on random internet commenters. CD Projekt RED is being selective about who they show the demo to so that they can control the message to an extent, while also whetting appetites with new details about their massive Cyberpunk world.

It does strike me as curious though, because the session we were privy too gave me the sense that Cyberpunk 2077 could possibly be a game we’d see on shelves at the end of 2019. Kiciński’s description is vague enough for that to still be a possibility, since milestones for development aren’t a standard across the industry. What CD Projekt RED defines as very early could just mean that the game is a year or two away, while other studios take that to mean half or double. At least one analyst has predicted that Cyberpunk 2077 will release in late 2019/ early 2020, and I’d wager that’s a fair assumption based on what I saw in LA a few weeks ago.

But CD Projekt RED is being careful about promising anything yet, especially after delaying The Witcher 3 numerous times after showing it off very early. The studio has learnt a thing or two about setting expectations early and the backlash that can come from that, so expect a more reserved approach with Cyberpunk 2077.

 

Last Updated: June 28, 2018

10 Comments

  1. I’ll get this just for that sweet sweet car. It looks like Knightrider had a meeting with The Dark Knight.

    Reply

  2. Admiral Chief

    June 28, 2018 at 09:59

  3. Original Heretic

    June 28, 2018 at 10:00

    It’ll be worth the wait, I have NO doubts about this.

    Reply

    • Grimsupanoob

      June 28, 2018 at 10:26

      In CDPR , trust we have

      Reply

  4. For the Emperor!

    June 28, 2018 at 11:04

    “since milestones for development aren’t a standard across the industry” – true that. What most would call pre-Alpha, others might call Release Version…like Mass Effect Andromeda…

    Reply

    • Yondaime

      June 29, 2018 at 06:52

      I should probably delete MEA, it’s wasting space on my HDD

      Reply

      • For the Emperor!

        June 29, 2018 at 09:14

        Call me a masochist, but I still feel I need* to finish it. Even though I have not played it since April/May last year…

        *The need is a need to finish games I payed for, not because it is any good…

        Reply

  5. For the Emperor!

    June 28, 2018 at 11:05

    Time to come clean – I still have not finished Witcher 1, or started with Witcher 2 or 3, though they are all in my Steam library 🙁

    Reply

    • Brian

      June 28, 2018 at 12:17

      “though they are all in my Steam library :(”

      Evergreen comment.

      Reply

  6. MaSeKind

    June 28, 2018 at 12:55

    I obviously don’t want to believe this and am really hoping they are saying this to stop people asking them when it’s going to be out.

    Also they seem to have a strange concept of pre-alpha based on what I heard about the demo. Sounds like they already have a lot of the main features implemented in the game. Or maybe this just goes to show how ambitious they really are.

    I also heard they want to release this on current consoles and from what I’ve heard there might be a PS5 around 2020 (????) so they don’t have that much more time. Would be a damn shame if they pushed out the release to be able to get it up and running on a new gen of consoles

    Reply

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