What’s up guys! It’s Jason here and welcome to my YouTube channel, Video Game Insight.
If you want to know how to avoid running a company into the ground, keep watching this video. Today,
I want to talk to you about CD Projekt Red. The gaming company, which also goes by the
acronym CDPR went from a beloved developer to a reviled pariah in the gaming world.
Most videos focus on the gameplay aspect and their failings. There are plenty of channels and videos
depicting pro gamers weeping and gnashing their teeth about the myriad failures of Cyberpunk 2077.
But I want to approach the company's slide from grace through a business lens.
What's the narrative there, back in the shadows with the money men?
That's what this video is about. I am going to tell you a story about the rise, demise,
and fall of CDPR. It's a fascinating story that involves sex, scandal,
and greed. Thankfully, no murder though (not that we know about right now anyways)…
The rise and fall of CDPR and its founders play out like a Shakespearean tragedy.
First, Act I is CDPR's rise to prominence.
Then, Act II is the climatic and tragic release of Cyberpunk 2077. Finally,
Act III is the resolution and the resulting fallout and what Cyberpunk 2077 should have done.
There is a lot less literal death in this resolution--but tons of carnage--so stick
around! Like any great tragedy, the elements at play in this story are a hero's tragic flaw,
unyielding internal and external pressure, and insatiable greed.
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Thanks for doing that and now let us continue on with What Happened to Cyberpunk 2077 in 2021.
ACT I: The Rise of CDPR Our tragic hero is the co-founder
of CD Projekt Red (CDPR), Marcin Iwinski. Iwinski harbors a core fundamental flaw--he
is a man of hubris. That fatal flaw, hubris (excessive pride), cost Iwinski millions.
Just how did the noble Polish game developer fall so sharply? The company was riding high on
the success of its Witcher Franchise. The beloved game is based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's
famous fantasy novel by the same name. The games are universally liked, and The Witcher III makes
appearances on people's all-time best lists. The year is 2012. CDPR is riding the cresting
wave of success. This swell of achievement is attributable to
the victory of The Witcher I and II. Here comes the hubris. In 2012, Marcin
Iwinski promised his acolytes that Cyberpunk 2077 would build on The Witcher's success.
Cyberpunk 2077 would be a mature adventure, postmodern and dystopian, with an open and
endless world reminiscent of the pen and paper RPG the video game was based on.
This game would change gaming forever. Iwinski was right, but not in the way he predicted.
Fast forward to 2015, CDPR and its owners are making tons of cash from The Witcher III. The game
is a runaway critical and commercial success. But cracks in the veneer were beginning to appear.
There is a game developer industry term called the "crunch." The dreaded crunch,
that time in a game's life cycle where workers have to work pitifully long hours matched only
by the pitiful pittance they earn. One former video game developer revealed that she made
$430 dollars a month while working for CDPR. The crunch is what allowed Iwinski to promise
big and deliver huge with the Witcher III. That same overconfidence and reliance on inhumane
crunch-time working conditions at sweatshop wages helped CDPR become the most valuable
European video game company in May 2020. Like Polish King Wenceslaus III of Bohemia,
this game developer from Poland would be king for less than a year.
The combination of Iwinski's hubris, internal pressure from the crunch,
and external pressures caused CDRP's slide into devastation.
Act II: Broken Promises The hype train started almost a decade ago at
the CDPR press conference, where the game designer promised the next coming of the Messiah in the
form of Cyberpunk 2077. The self-aggrandizement only grew as the developers promised more options,
revolutionary gameplay, and flawless graphics. In 2018, the company released a polished trailer
at E3. The game hadn't even been completed yet, but 8 million fanatics ordered the game in the
trailer's strength. With perfect hindsight, it's apparent that CDPR promised too much
and under-delivered on the fantasy world. Why is cyberpunk so bad? The trailer showed
excellent gameplay, responsive controls, and a world that felt alive.
A world that sci-fi and gaming enthusiasts had been dying to explore. The world of Blade Runner,
a dirty, dystopian world punctuated with neon lights and adventure down every street.
The pressure and the hype had built over nine years. The main culprit behind the publicity
was CDPR itself. This was an unforced error, a self-inflicted shotgun wound,
and it proved to be near-fatal. The hype caused unrealistic expectations from the player base.
Is Cyberpunk 2077 really that bad? It is almost impossible to describe how much of a failure
the launch of CDPR's Cyberpunk 2077 franchise was. First, it was delayed. The original target release
date was April 16, 2020. And then delayed again until September 17. And then it was postponed for
a third time until November 19, 2020. The delays intensified the crunch and anticipation from fans.
By the time CDPR released the game in December, fans were already in a frenzy.
The hype train was running off its rails. The developer's decision to disregard its
employees well-being to make the deadline was a controversial move.
Mandatory overtime and working weekends--a distorted work-life balance--became the norm for
employees. The maneuver did not portend well for the game. Everyone was hopeful still. After all,
this was CDPR--the publishers of Witcher III. This game was so successful that it spawned a Netflix
adaptation! All in all, the crunch did help the company drag the game over the finish line by
December 10. That's when the real problems began. The company billed the game as an incredible
adventure in a science fiction universe. The game is set in a future dystopia where
cybernetic street people negotiate the deadly world of corporate espionage. The weapons and
high-tech augmentations were supposed to be part of the revolutionary player experience.
CDRP's trailers were top-notch, and the Polish game developer even managed
to secure Keanu Reeves as a prominent character. The incredible Keanu Reeves!
The excitement around the game was palpable, and eight million people pre-ordered the
game ahead of its December release. The delays might have been forgiven
if the game was the purported masterpiece and feat of software engineering that was promised.
Instead, it was a dumpster fire. Something peculiar began to happen; game reviewers and
critics were receiving the game. The only version was a PC version. By most accounts,
the game is decent on PC--playable but glitchy. There was nothing game-breaking, at least.
Conspicuously absent from the distribution were the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game.
Something was rotten in Denmark. The game released on December 10,
and problems immediately emerged; it was marred by silly glitches, game-breaking bugs, and shoddy
graphics. The game became a meme and a punchline. There are literally thousands of hours of viral
videos with flabbergasted gamers asking why? * Why are there little trees covering
the floors of this office building? * Why is it raining tanks, cars, and people?
* Why am I always naked? Did the developers forget the clothes?
* Also, why does my penis fall off from my character's body?
The customers rightly complained that the game was unplayable.
Mistakes, low-level AI, and a hugely incompatible with all but the most expensive and highest-end
gaming consoles resulted in a furious fanbase. Is Cyberpunk 2077 worth getting? Well, the game
went from potential award winner to cautionary tale about deception and false promises.
CDPR lied to its customers about the game's features. Then they doubled down on the lie,
hoping that they could fix the errors during the crunch. More errors kept
popping up, so the company lied again. Finally, on December 14, the video game
studio released a statement apologizing for "not showing the game on base last-gen studios...not
allowing you to make a more informed decision on your purchase."
They knew that the game wasn't ready but shipped it anyway. Iwinski and his board figured the cost
of a shoddy launch was less than the profit they would make from lying to consumers.
ACT III: The Fall What Happened to Cyberpunk 2077 in 2021 is this:
Cyberpunk's release is the biggest and most widely publicized disaster
in video game history. The game crashed and burned during the holiday season. Based on the reports
coming from Iwinski, the game should have been a huge success, further cementing CDPR's sterling
reputation as an A+ game developer. The game was so bad that customers
demanded refunds from game sellers: * Best Buy altered their return policy
to accept opened copies of the game * Microsoft took a drastic step and
allowed anyone who had bought the game, physical or digital, to get a full refund.
That is unbelievable in the world of video games that literally no one accepts refunds!
While CDPR may continue its existence, it will be a mangled existence. The developer has broken
the trust of too many partners. They lied to customers, and then they harmed distributors.
One of the controversies within the controversies is the way the Sony and
CDPR relationship ground to a halt. Sony had a strict no return policy on digital downloads.
With incredible arrogance, CDRP told their riled-up fanbase to demand
refunds from distributors. The way CDPR handled their failure was a textbook example of how
NOT to build goodwill. Sony did not take kindly to the game developer's overreach.
So, in 2021, Sony went whole scorched earth. First, they amended the refund
policy to allow people who digitally downloaded the game to be reimbursed.
Then, Sony took the unprecedented step and snatched the game off of their PlayStation store.
That was more than three months ago. Shortly after the game was pulled,
CDPR's studio head Adam Badowski liked Tweets that criticized Sony's decision to pull the
radioactive game from the Playstation store. Badwoski's boneheaded decisions disintegrated
an already fractured relationship. It seems like weekly, a CDPR rep says wistfully, "We're working
with Sony to bring back Cyberpunk 2077..." It's been more than 100 days with not much movement.
Sony had been ambivalent about returning the game to the store. CDPR insists that with each patch,
the game gets better and more playable. Yet, the game remains in limbo.
As mentioned before, Iwinski's prescience was uncanny. His game did change the gaming world.
No other marquee game from a reputable developer had ever been pulled before Cyberpunk 2077.
This truly was a fantastic failure from an industry darling.
And that brings us to today. Now we've all made mistakes before. Sometimes you forget to put the
cap back on the toothpaste. Maybe you decide to try your luck and not fill up when your gas
light comes on. You reason that stopping by a gas station in the morning before work will be okay.
Have you ever caused your company to lose 22% of its value in a few weeks or
over 50% in 3 months? Or have you ever cost your company $1.8 billion from your oversight?
No? Good, then you are doing a much better job than CDPR did with Cyberpunk 2077
in 2021. The company has become a popular target of short-sellers
who do not think that the Polish video game company can bounce back.
Time will tell, but the blood is in the water, and the sharks are getting twitchy with excitement.
But maybe, the company bounces back. There is precedent for a corporation to rise like a
phoenix from the ashes. It just doesn't look like it in this situation. What Cyberpunk 2077 should
have done is just to be honest from the start and waited to release a high quality product.
We’ve seen things like this play out in the past. Duke Nukem Forever anyone?
The future does not look bright for CDPR in 2021 or next year for that matter. Since the release,
the company: has been investigated by Poland's Office of Competition and Consumer Protections.
It has had two class-action lawsuits filed against them, and in late
March--the lead designer left the company. So that's it, the rise and fall of CD Projekt Red
and what happened to Cyberpunk 2077 in 2021. I hope you found some value in this video.
So with that said, thank you so much for watching my video as this is a brand new YouTube channel I
started this year. There was a significant amount of research, production and video game testing
that went into making this video possible, so if you wouldn’t mind giving the video a LIKE
and leaving a comment in the YouTube section below, it would really help out a lot. Have
you heard of or tried playing Cyberpunk 2077? What you think about CDPR's rollout? Be sure to
check out some of my other videos, like the Rise of Bruno Mars and the Rise and Fall of New York.
If you’re a foodie, you’ll love my video on In-N-Out Burger and Why They’re So Successful.
Thank you again for watching and stay tuned for another episode of Company Insight next week.