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Cyberpunk 2077 (Source: YouTube)
Here’s a useful heuristic: If Keanu Reeves is the face of your project and it fails, then there is something wrong with your project.
Well, Keanu is the face of the Cyberpunk 2077 game and things have gone so bad since its release on December 10 that the studio behind him (CD Projekt Red) has seen its stock drop. 40% + since the beginning of the month.
Set in a dystopian future (think Bounty hunter), the game was one of the most anticipated of the decade – the project launched in 2012 and cost more than $ 120 million.
CD Projekt Red was founded by 2 friends from high school …
… in Warsaw, Poland, during the 1990s (according to the New York Times).
According to a former employee, the studio’s leaders have a reputation for being “skilled marketers” and “storytellers,” but their vision is often “ahead of their technical and engineering prowess.”
The gap between the vision and the execution plague Cyberpunk 2077
The gaming industry is so notorious for its hectic work schedules that there is one word to describe the rush to meet a deadline: crisis.
Over the years, the Cyberpunk project has been plagued by delays and loss of leadership; In 2020, employees have been working furiously to meet the 2020 vacation deadline.
A big red flag appeared in the weeks leading up to Cyberpunk’s launch in December. Studios often send out advanced copies of games to allow the media to write reviews (hopefully positive).
CD Projekt kept quiet with various publishers, which raised a lot of eyebrows.
Cyberpunk had flaws since launch
Twitter and Reddit are awash with game clips that show characters’ unexplained behavior such as walking through walls, suddenly disappearing, and apparently an affinity for a lack of pants.
It’s gotten so bad that Sony pulled the game out of its store and is issuing refunds. The entire episode sheds light on the multi-year, high-stakes creation of expensive “triple A” games.
When they arrive, they print money (for example, the Grand Theft Auto franchise has made ~ $ 6 billion worldwide). When they fail (for example, Cyberpunk 2077), investors can hit them with lawsuits alleging “misrepresentation for financial gain.”
It will take a lot of Keanu to save this one.
