According to a report from Bloomberg, the development of Cyberpunk 2077 “didn’t really start until late 2016.”
Cyberpunk 2077 was announced way back in 2012, and in 2013 we saw its very first cinematic trailer. Naturally it sent the gaming world alight with anticipation. Because of this, it’s widely accepted that CDPR’s RPG was in development for a good eight to nine years or so.
However, according to Jason Schreier’s Bloomberg report, CDPR was still concentrating on The Witcher 3 and full development of Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t actually start until late 2016.
The report consolidates first-hand accounts from developers who once worked at CDPR as well as those still there. It’s claimed that in 2016 Cyberpunk 2077 “essentially hit the reset button”. 2016 is also the year in which studio chief Adam Badowski took over as director.
It is also claimed in the report that mismanagement in studio leadership resulted in the decision to push out Cyberpunk 2077 before it was ready. We’ve seen the impact of those alleged decisions since the game launched on December 10th 2020.
However Schreier writes that when the developers at CDPR were giving an earlier release date of April 16th 2020 some members of the team “could only scratch their heads, wondering how they could possibly finish the game by then.”
In fact the April 16th release date was so head-scratching for the developers working on the game, some thought that it was a joke.
The report also reveals that the developers allegedly did not expect the game to be ready for release until 2022. When you take the recent statement addressing the games many issues into account, it’s not hard to believe that claim.
The report is all very damning and if you’ve been following the development of Cyberpunk 2077 and its launch, sadly much of this news should come as no surprise. You can read the full report from Jason Schreier here.
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Featured Image Credit: CD Projekt Red