CD Projekt Red has announced that Cyberpunk 2077 is delayed again. This time, the game has been pushed back to December 10th.
In a statement on Twitter, CD Projekt Red explained that this is due to the struggles involved in making sure it can be launched concurrently on multiple different platforms. The developer explained, “the biggest challenge for us right now is shipping the game on current-gen, next-gen, and PC at the same time, which requires us to prepare and test 9 versions of it (Xbox One/X, compatibility on Xbox Series S/X, PS4/Pro, compatibility on PS5, PC, Stadia while working from home.”
The team statement continued, “since Cyberpunk 2077 evolved towards almost being a next-gen title somewhere along the way, we need to make sure everything works well and every version runs smoothly.” The plan is that the developer uses the extra 21 days to ensure that a Day 0 patch is available to correct any issues on any of the systems involved.
If you’re wondering if 21 days is enough, CD Projekt Red seems reasonably confident but, well, it has been before, hasn’t it? Previously, Cyberpunk 2077 went gold and passed certification meaning it should have been ready to go, but as the statement explains, the firm had under calculated when it came to the need for the Day 0 patch and how long that would take to complete.
First impressions are a huge deal with games so it’s understandable that CD Projekt Red wants to get things right, especially as it’s had to deal with the challenges of the global pandemic and working from home initiatives which have presumably slowed things down a bit. Having said that, the game has come under increasing scrutiny after the developer originally said there would be no crunch for its staff and reneged on the idea, requiring workers to work six day weeks in an effort to meet the previous release date of mid-November.
There’s no official word on whether staff are continuing to work long hours but Bloomberg reporter, Jason Schreider, has tweeted some inside news on how a CD Projekt Red developer recently told him that they’d had to work 100-hour weeks lately. The general assumption is that this is probably going to continue into December.
Fingers crossed for everyone’s sake that Cyberpunk 2077 finally arrives on December 10th.