Today CD Projekt Red hosted its financial results teleconference, and the studio’s executives talked extensively about Cyberpunk 2077.
We hear from president and CEO Adam Kiciński and board members Piotr Nielubowicz and Michał Nowakowski.
First of all, CD Projekt has been planning a digital strategy for marketing since the second half of February. They will unveil new facts about the game and new beats to the players regardless of the lack of physical events.
The developer is working on “smart ways” to present the content to as large a volume of people as possible.
While they can’t share detail yet, there are plans for “beats” from June throughout September.
Asked whether they have concerns about the delays of other games which could cause a pileup of titles being released toward the end of the year, we hear that CD Projekt is aware of the delay of The Last of Us Part II, but they’re “not really worried.”
They argued that games never launch in a moment exclusive to them. September has always been a very competitive period, and if it becomes a bit more competitive “it’s fine.” The studio believes that Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be a “must-have” game and people are going to choose it because they have been waiting for it.
While nobody knows how many games will end up being released in the same window, but CD Project is “definitely not planning” to move its release date due to anyone else happening to move their launch in the same period.
Moving on to pre-orders, the studio is “happy” about the way they’re progressing, but they can’t share more details. They did say that pre-orders on consoles are lower compared to PC, which is the platform with the highest pre-orders.
For now, they also aren’t ready to talk about future unannounced games, but they will do so after releasing Cyberpunk 2077.
They also don’t expect to decrease the headcount of the studios after the release of the game. As a matter of fact, they plan to continue expanding.
Currently, there are slightly less than 600 people working on the game and related projects. The vast majority is focusing on the single-player release, with about 40 developers in Wrocław dedicated to working on the following multi-player release. That being said, some developers move between the two projects because they’re directly connected.
On top of that, 130-150 people are currently testing the game as part of the QA process.
The studio feels comfortable with the September release window. At the moment they’re working on “lots of small things” and they have to send the game for certification to the first parties. After that the teams will work on the “day zero patch” until the launch the game, fixing bugs and polishing. The game is currently in a “complete form” and it’s basically “done” besides polishing and fixing.
Manufacturing of physical copies is “not impeded in any way” by the Coronavirus situation and it’s happening normally all over the world. The same can be said about physical distribution.
While the developers have confirmed an update that will bring the game to Xbox Series X, they cannot confirm or deny anything for PS5, since Sony has made no announcements on this.
The “proper full-blown next-gen version” for Xbox Series X is going to come after the launch of the console, but for now CD Projekt canot provide a time frame.
If you want to learn more about Cyberpunk 2077, you can enjoy additional information from the results presentation released yesterday, some more recent comments from CD Projekt RED’s executives, the latest gameplay, additional comments from the developers, and enjoy some really high-definition character images.
You can also read our semi-recent interview with producer Richard Borzymowski, how character creation can impact the story, and every way V can kill someone.
Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it has recently been delayed to September 17, 2020. It has also been confirmed for Xbox Series X down the line.
