The failed launch of Cyberpunk 2077 had a big impact on The Witcher 4. But a positive effect, because according to the technical director of CD Projekt, the release of the next game in the franchise will be much better and will not make the same mistakes.
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Cyberpunk 2077 is a great game, there’s no doubt about it. Phantom Liberty, its first (and only) DLC, brought together 250,000 players simultaneously. Now the RPG is fixed and fully profitable thanks to its immersive universe, sprawling Night City and meticulous writing. Enough to forget the failed launch of the CD Projekt title. In an interview for InvenGlobal, the studio’s technical director Colin Walder tells us that this fiasco had an impact on The Witcher 4.
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CD Projekt wants to avoid a disastrous launch for The Witcher 4
Because after the failed launch of Cyberpunk 2077, Colin Walder reveals that the morale of the teams suffered a “significant blow”. But as The Witcher 4 was announced, CD Projekt’s technical director assured him: We won’t do it again. The disastrous launch has had a positive impact on The Witcher 4, as the studio is optimizing its next big game to avoid a similar scenario in the future.
From now on, CD Projekt “controls things from the start” for The Witcher 4. Colin Walder specifies that the teams “make sure”. [le développement] Consoles so that it works from the start “. Which wasn’t the case with Cyberpunk 2077, hence the failed PS4 and Xbox One versions. This process only took place “later in the development” of the futuristic role-playing game.
Colin Walder reassures by clarifying that in the event of a slowdown as The Witcher 4’s release approaches, Teams will adjust the schedule to avoid bottlenecks. However, let’s keep in mind that after ensuring that this practice was not mandatory, this practice was applied to everyone during the development of Cyberpunk 2077, without the developers really having a choice.
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CD Projekt assures that there will be no crisis
So is CD Projekt lying to gamers when it promises not to start playing The Witcher 4 again? Only the future will tell us. But despite the investigations, denunciations and scandals Studios don’t hesitate to impose a physically and mentally grueling burden on teams.
CD Projekt has a strong interest in not doing it again to avoid further bad publicity at the time of The Witcher 4’s release. Finally, Cyberpunk 2077 had been removed from PlayStation’s PS Store upon release. A first for a AAA of this size!