We were worried about getting enough time to finish all of the games that were due to launch across March and April. That wasn’t that long ago. Since then, Cyberpunk 2077 joined the list of AAA titles being pushed back to a later release date. Unlike Final Fantasy VII Remake, which was only delayed by a month, Cyberpunk 2077 has moved from April to September. This lengthier than expected delay has, of course, got the rumour mill fired up. This hasn’t been helped by official sources saying that despite the delay, the team will still be expected to crunch ”to some degree.” Reassurances that the game will be worth the wait are all well and good but when there’s a hot take to make, the internet delivers.
Claims that the game ran poorly on current generation hardware began to circulate almost immediately, as well as some more nefarious rumours. This was picked up by a number of websites and caught the attention of Cory Barlog, Creative Director at SIE Santa Monica Studio, known for his work on the God of War series. In a multi-tweet thread about delays caused by optimization, he said: “EVERY game runs badly until you optimize for the hardware in the final push before gold. GAMES ARE VERY UGLY, FOR A LONG TIME, UNTIL THEY ARE NOT. Traditionally, that is right near the end. This is due to the absolutely fucking bananas level of complexity and moving pieces required to make any game today.”
To me there is NOTHING shameful or nefarious about the game not running well in development.
We ALL obviously want to release the smoothest/most bug free experience humanly possible.
Sometimes we (mostly) succeed. Sometimes we don’t.
But it is NEVER because we did not try.
— Cory Barlog
(@corybarlog) 22 January 2020
After the positive response from fellow developers within the industry, it was only a matter of time before someone from within the Cyberpunk 2077 development team spoke out. Philipp Weber, a Senior Quest Designer at CD Projekt Red, took to the official forum to give his take on the delay. This was picked up and shared by Reddit user RavixCuatrocuernos.
Weber’s statement, where he specifically mentions the Xbox One but keeps it vague in regards to the model of PlayStation (which might have been an oversight), could be interpreted as meaning that getting next-gen ready could have been a factor in the delay. Without reading too far into it and picking apart every word, it seems optimization and general bugs are to blame for the delay.
It may be less apocalyptic than we all thought, but was delaying the game the right call? Are you still looking forward to finally getting your hands on it when it launches on September 17th? Will you be picking up the very expensive Collector’s Edition (I wish I was)?
Still haven’t got your full fix of Cyberpunk 2077 content? Make sure to check out the stealthily taken snaps of the Cyberpunk 2077 figures by Mcfarlane Toys, shown off at Toy Fair London last week, below!
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