How Cyberpunk 2077 sold a promise – and hardened the system


CD Project Red had almost a decade to become a great architect Cyberpunk 2077 Myths. Game reviewers had a few days to evaluate it, and they were in a hamstring to figure out how to portray it. Gamers reducing game 60 to this cyberpunk fun palace back in 2019; All the hot air went out. A professional reviewer, K. Lee Pledge Cyberpunk 2077 On 7-10 GameSpotNot one – to criticize one-dimensional world-building, disconnected side quests, and massive technical problems. Mass harassment participated in the review. Reactive YouTubers, who do not have access to the game, dedicated lengthy videos to disperse his critique, dissect his playtime and playstyle. But just a few days later, once the gamers finally played Cyberpunk 2077 By themselves, many did a 180. “Everyone said shit about it, but I’m starting to agree with Kelly [sp] Please, ”/ r / read a popular post on cyberpunk game.

CD Project Red is not the first or only gaming company to run a marketing psycho-performing PS. In 2016, No Man’s Sky Literally promised the world and infinite others; It will be the most elaborate, the most immersive, the most most Game to that point. But the studio behind it, Hello Games, didn’t offer it to critics before it launched, so gamers found a difficult way to fail to deliver basics like multiplayer connectivity. This year alone, Wired received more than a dozen offers to review major games that were affiliated with the NDA. It’s not always to hide flaws; Sometimes it’s to stop the spoilers, or the result of an overly PR team. But putting such handcuffs on critics ultimately hurts people who buy games.

As the market size of the games industry reaches .4 60.4 billion dollars, the pressure to micro-manage review systems is ever increasing. For example Bloomberg Reported that CD Project Red’s developers’ bonuses were contingent on 90+ on MetCritic. (Changed after that release.) The company created a video game equivalent of a genie in a bottle. So when he got the modicum of power everyone did what he did: control the narrative. CD Project Red denied Wire’s request to comment.

The same incentives are also strictly against developers, who have pulled out six-day work weeks and sacrificed work-life balance to show scenes like “a city bigger than life,” setting new standards in terms of visuals, complexity and depth. Is. ” These are modern expectations of a growing bloated and increasingly inadvisable genre for the 60-hour, AAA Open World game. In June, Sean Led, a former PlayStation executive, lamented the enormous financial and workload of developing such games on GamesIndustry.seeds. “I think the whole industry needs to sit back and say,‘ Alright, what are we building? What do the audience expect? What’s the best way to move our story forward, and tell us what we need to say? ”

Eight million pre-orders, however, say that all of this phase-management benefits someone. Video games are particularly sensitive to bait-and-switch. Sports both have one thing in common and a hobby: a place to be yourself and find out who you are and what you do and where you own it. Better customization, bigger world, more graphics – more, more, more – it can’t move fast. But the hope that feeds on hope will grow as much as faith in it.


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