The Witcher 4 Can't Be Another Cyberpunk 2077, and CD Projekt Red Knows It

CDPR is my favorite developer, but I'd be lying if I didn't say 2077 damaged my faith in their launch quality standards. Their games are so good that it's worth dealing with the problems, but I wouldn't blame anyone for not taking them at their word. Wait until the Witcher 4 is out and listen to what (non-grifter) personalities say about the technical state. That said, don't act like Digital Foundry's 4x zooms are some make-or-break data point. A frame hitch does not a bad game make.

They'll be alright since the audience are dumb enough to forgive getting scammed

Presumably the ditching of REDEngine for UE5 will make a big difference this time around.

I won't lie when I saw how bad Cyber punk was at launch I said I would never buy the game... roll on a few years and I picked up the game (including the DLC) and was completely blown away with it. So I truly believe CDPR have learnt their lesson and Witcher 4 will release flawlessly and I'll be there whenever that day arrives.

I'm going to wait at least a year past the release date for this game at the very minimum before considering buying it. Sorry, but the industry has trained me to this game buying behavior.

You can pay full price for a game that will either need updates or be abandoned by the publisher ... or wait a year to see if they support it and if they do, get it 50% off.

The Witcher 3 is maybe my favorite game of the 2010's, but the amount of deceptive and arrogant bull**** CDPR pulled before and during the 1.0 of Cyberpunk 2077 liquidated all of the goodwill they got from me after Witcher 3 and left an immensely sour taste in my mouth. I can't even honestly say I'm that excited about their future projects, including Witcher 4.

Restored enough where I'll buy the game, but not at launch or until I have seen reviews

The Witcher 3 is the only game I’ve ever played from CDPR. It’s also my favorite game of all time. They still have my confidence. Now, screw up The Witcher 4 and we’ll revisit the conversation.

Bit harsh, I don't know if I'll get TW4 at launch it all depends what else is out at the time. They support their games well, as good as any other devs I can think of so I don't have any complaints tbh. Not many games launch in a perfect state and if it wasn't for us 'dumb' people that don't mind getting scammed on launch day then nobody would buy games at launch and well, where would we be then? Before anyone says 'maybe all games would launch when they're ready!' In a perfect world yes but unfortunately it isn't a perfect world. It's us launch day buyers that keep the industry going. You're welcome. Xx

To this day there are obvious issues with CP2077. I’m not talking about some niche set of circumstances or the odd, impossible-to-reproduce bugs and glitches, I mean blatantly obvious problems.

Here’s a bit of low hanging fruit they clearly didn’t bother testing: Inverting the Y-axis in the options menu works fine—when you’re on foot. Too bad it doesn’t invert the camera controls for when you’re driving. My only hope is to outrun my pursuers, as trying to aim a gun while driving means I’m looking up into the sky like Stevie Wonder.

How did they overlook something so simple? Their playtest criteria must fit on a post-it note. Customer support was completely useless.

I mean obviously. It was a game half baked really at best.
To do that again would mean they learnt nothing!
Obviously polish happens during the games release and whatnot but if they dont wanna aggravate day one buyers and fans of the game they'll definitely not do a Cyberpunk again!

I agree with a lot of folks here and elsewhere:

1.Witcher 3 is my favorite game of the previous generation.

2.Because of that, I pre-ordered Cyberpunk, a rare thing for me. It ran ok on my PS5, but lots of small bugs and absolutely felt like an underbaked game overall. I wish I had waited to play it.

3.I am very excited to play Witcher 4, but I am going to wait this time. I’ll play, and in fact am really looking forward to Ciri’s adventure. But no way I am preordering a game from CD ever again, I would rather wait and play a better game a few months down the line.

CDPR may have fumbled the initial release of Cyberpunk but they did a great job fixing it. Even Witcher 3 had some rough spots when it first released 11 years ago as well.

@themightyant Yeah I recognize that, but 2077 was on an entirely different level. The PS4 and Xbox One versions weren't just janky, but fundamentally unplayable. They should have cancelled those versions altogether.

For what it's worth, I do think/hope they've learned their lesson, but I wouldn't blame anyone for never giving them the benefit of the doubt ever again.

It's generous to call it a mistake. It was during Covid when there was a uniquely high demand for big games, CDPR made a ton of money, they knew it wasn't ready.

If it was a mistake you have to believe CDPR somehow didn't know how badly it ran (and IIRC there were leaks from frustrated playtesters confirming they knew). I believe it was a deliberate calculated decision that a rushed launch and mea culpa would pay off financially, and it did.

That said, I respect that they made it right, I thoroughly enjoyed Cyberpunk and the DLC was amazing but the games industry is very cynical, so I tend to view their decisions through the same lens.

If they mess up again, people will see them as the new Bethesda of the industry. So yeah, they may want to get it right this time.

I loved Cyberpunk 2077 throughout its life, but it was the last game I preordered. Near every game releases in some form of disrepair, in a couple months most games have transformed and might be cheaper second hand or on sale.

What's annoyed me more is then re-breaking Cyberpunk with their annoying PS5 pro update, that somehow destroyed the aiming sensitivity and introduced weird issues with core game mechanics, that they've just not mentioned or fixed since.

But damn them if their games still aren't some of the very best RPG's made.

I will never again preorder a game from them, but I WILL buy it full priced day one if it reviews well.

I always find it strange when I see these articles pop up about CP2077's "amazing redemption." I'm in the minority I supposed in that I don't think CP2077 is that great even after all the updates. I think the gun designs and shooting is pretty good although gets old. The story is...meh. All the dynamics that they alluded to the city feeling alive and reactive to you was never achieved. Not even close.

Simple for me, wait for the release and reviews.

Nowadays every new release from any studio, no matter how good or bad their last game was, should be approached with caution.

I rather say it would be miracle if any company release finished game now. Even GTA 6 will be rushed mess...

Redemed themself after making cyberpunk an amazing game now after the shambles it was when it was released and they are a great developer as well id trust cd project red anyday of the week before either ea 2k or activision scummy companys who are only interested in fleecing gamers

I know I'm in the minority here (big surprise right, 🤣 ) however I still don't like cyberpunk 2077, but for different reasons than the herd initially did or at the very least the reasons everyone seemed to stop talking about as soon as CDPR started to try and fix the performance problems with the game.

The game is just fundamentally not finished. The city itself feels off and lifeless because of it. It's just a facade of a city with cars coming in and out of existence just as the npcs do but they don't actually do anything. People tend to now overlook the fact that even though they addressed performance and bugs (which took years to fully address), they ultimately delivered only a fraction of what they claimed this game was all the way up until launch day. All those night city radio broadcasts, all that hype people now blame on the gamers was created by them and the vast majority of it was deception.

It's a huge unfinished map with little impetus for exploration of which they slapped in a bunch of Ubisoft like filler to make up for it. The main story is ok and there a few decent quests and side quests. The combat is good, loot system, and UI is still garbage just like Witcher but something you can overlook as in Witcher if the world was good. It just isn't. Most of the combat opportunities are the exact poorly executed procedural Gen garbage I mentioned earlier. The progression systems were half baked albeit slightly iterated on a year later lmfao.

Really there is so much wrong with this game and so much potential. My issue was never the broken launch. It's the fact that they lied to everyone. Including their investors about what was fundamentally in the game and what was possible for you as a player. Even playing after the final big last update my feelings haven't changed.
It's just an unfinished game that was pushed out way too early because they were under pressure from concerned investors.

So rather than delay the very troubled and exploitative development again, they made a decision to lie to everyone, duct tape everything together, push out the unfinished game, and hope the sales off the back of their reputation would satisfy both sides. In some ways even intitially the fraud worked. The media lied for them and they sold a massive amount of copies even in the release window. Yet the investors sued them because despite that they know they lost money on the lie when it was revealed what the finished product was.

I've been a CDPR stan since coming across the Witcher 1 because I thought the pc box art was cool walking through the game section of a big box store way back lol. I fell in love with the world/lore immediately despite the jank. I've played all three Witcher titles several times.

However even still I don't trust CDPR anymore. I watched every single bit of their bs marketing for cyberpunk with anticipation. They lied and didn't deliver much of what they said was in the game. They are not forgiven for fixing the broken technical state in my eyes because the same deceivers that orchestrated all that are still in charge.

I do hope and believe they learned a lesson though and that it translates to a better result and less troubled development practice for witcher 4, despite losing a ton of their talent due to the cyberpunk fiasco.

They knew their product was broken and unfinished, but still chose to release it to scam customers. It was also never properly fixed on PS4, so I don't really trust them anymore.

Like it was just them. It's every single developer. I pre-order nothing, buy no games on launch day. ANY PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY CANNOT BE TRUSTED. The shareholder pressure will completely guarantee no game will ever be released even mostly finished. If you are pre ordering anything, you are the idiot these companies are counting on.

It was never as bad as it was made out for me, I finished it on a PS4 pro, no dramas. Then again on a 5, then again with phantom liberty. And modded to hell on PC. The core game was always strong. Never regretted original purchase.

There's been some partial redemption, but I'd still avoid preordering their next game. At the very least, I'd wait until there's reviews out for the platform that I'm getting it on.

I played 1.1 on the PS5 it was nowhere near as bad as some made out. The PS4 version should have been yanked.

They won’t make the same mistake again I’m sure.

I believe in 2nd chances if earned and CDPR earned it.

"We lost some people's faith indefinitely"
I wait till all games have been tested thoroughly thanks to CDPR

I loved cyberpunk never got to play with the super update that changed the game. I got it off ebay for 10 bucks when it first came out and as soon as most of the crashing issues were fixed I jumped in and had a blast. I need to play with the update and phantom liberty, so many games to play and its summer and for some reason I hopped back into GTA V online. What is wrong with me

Pretty much repaired at this point for me, though I listened to the reviews and didn't buy the game at launch, instead I waited until two xmas's ago before buying the complete version on ps5 which was a fantastic experience.
I have a little bit of doubt they'll successfully launch the Witcher 4 in a good state but I'm willing to wait and see. Worse case scenario I'll wait a few years for the complete version for cheap once again.

I trust them. Yeah, Cyberpunk had a rocky launch, but they managed to turn it around and now many consider it one of their all time favorite RPGs. And The Witcher 3 is obviously incredible. I have no doubt The Witcher 4 will be just as great.

They certainly repaired some of it after Cyberpunk's dlc release, but they still need to show that they can release Witcher 4 without any deception or lies so if they can do that then all is good.

I don't know why anyone would put blind faith in any company like they haven’t all failed us in one way or another. There’s such an easy solution too. Just wait for the game to come out and watch reviews before you buy it. If it reviews like ass, buy something else. There’s literally no shortage of banger games to play in this market. Do I trust them? No. Do I think they probably learned their lesson and this should launch fine? Yeah.

I’m 98 hours into Cyberpunk but got it on deep discount and didn’t start playing until I got my Pro and the Pro patch released. Still some crashes and random pop-ins that are amusing, especially vehicles dropping/crashing into a scene, but no major issues.

Say what you will about them, but I'm replaying Cyberpunk and it's stunning.

I trust them to make Witcher 4 an incredible game 3-5 years after launch

It just shows wait until gameplay trailers are dropped.

Man, I pre-ordered Cyberpunk only to cancel the order not because I was worried about the game but because I knew I wouldn't have the time to play it (and I was right). Fast forward to now and the whole CP drama completely missed me. The game's patched, Phantom Liberty is out - it's a good time to visit Night City for the first time!
As for the Witcher 4 and RED's reputation: I like a good redemption arc as much as the next person and believe that they devs won't make the same mistake of shipping an unfinished game again (I have no worries about the substance of the game - just the technical state may in question for me). That being said, I might buy it on day one but a pre-order is a no-no just out of principle.