Games, like any other entertainment medium, are products of a time. It is impossible to understand them if we remove them from their context and, in the case of Cyberpunk 2077, a vital part of it is its launch. Everything that surrounds the creation of the RPG of action CD Project Red It is as or more relevant than what happens within the adventure and is perhaps one of the topics most addressed by the specialized press.
To briefly review, the Polish studio lied about the game proposal, showed only what supported the commercial narrative and only sent copies of review for PC. The latter was vital to ensure a cushion of positive notes to lessen the blow of the console reviews, whose launch version was directly chaos.
Eventually, by dint of colossal work, Cyberpunk 2077 came forward. Even versions of Playstation 4 and Xbox One They were significantly improved, but they never even came close to what was promised. The truth is that, after so many years of development, the game had grown far beyond the limitations of hardware of the consoles for which it had been announced.
It was noticeable even in the trailers: the talk of the forums could be summed up as “How are they going to make that run on a PS4?” and in the more realistic users who saw a debacle coming. The truth is that, unless you had a PC powerful or one of the mid-generation consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4 Proyou were going to play a blurry version full of bugs of a game that showed potential but disappointed at every turn.
CD Project Red He paid the price and lost, in addition to money, a good part of the prestige he had accumulated with his previous titles. He also took a huge hit to the trust of his community, who found himself having to return a game that he had pre-ordered, a game that had been sold to him through lies and manipulation. Over the past three years, the Polish studio has worked tirelessly to turn the situation around.
First, through huge updates that radically changed the experience and then, with the arrival of Phantom Liberty, transforming it into a fantastic experience. Along the way they had to unfortunately abandon the previous generation platforms that were left without the DLC and the latest updates.
This brings us to the present, because Cyberpunk 2077 is officially finished and the studio’s focus shifted completely to the new installment of The Witcher. The news fueled the headlines of all the media and the game of CD Project Red rekindled the spark of discord. One of the most frequent complaints is about the feeling of abandonment that the end of development generated, highlighting the need for the title to continue being updated with new content.
It is an understandable request in these times, but at the same time quite ridiculous. Nowadays, and for several years now, games as a service have accustomed us to having them installed and giving us reasons to play them again all the time. The most popular titles adopted this monetization system and the major publishers aim to have an updateable game that continues to pay dividends over the years. But that doesn’t mean that all releases have to last forever.
What is striking about this claim is that it treats Cyberpunk 2077, a single-player title focused on telling us a story through its narrative and setting, as if it were a game as a service. One thing is the updates necessary to polish details, eliminate bugs and improve user experience; It is quite another to generate new content. Just as we accept that a FIFA or a Call of Duty stops receiving content after just one year of the previous launch, or we do not ask for new stories from a RPG as Skyrim either Final Fantasy XVwe shouldn’t do it in this case either.
The RPG that are constantly updated are the ones that are played on-line as The Elder Scrolls Online, world of warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV. And even in those cases, the expansions are paid separately, in addition to the monthly subscription. That is why they are profitable for both developers and publishers. What sense does it make to keep hundreds of developers working to create new experiences within a title they sold four years ago?
Beyond commercial logic, almost all video games are experiences with an ending and reaching it is the goal of most players. Games begin and end, if they are great we can play them again to relive the same experience, but if they are fantastic they may allow us to discover new secrets in a next game. Cyberpunk 2077 It is in that last group, but due to its turbulent development and disastrous launch it suffers ridiculous claims from a community that has not yet recovered from the betrayal of 2020.
Cyberpunk 2077 It’s finished and it’s perfect. It is a delicious experience full of details that make getting lost in Night City It becomes the best week of your life. Today, it not only lives up to the original vision, it surpasses it on every front, and if its creators say enough is enough, then we should respect that so. The best thing about this news is that the entire team is focused on The Witcher 4another game that will not be updated forever but will surely immerse us in a narrative as immersive as it is spectacular.
