Cyberpunk 2077: The Awards To Come

Should games made under duress be awarded “Game of the Year,” “Best Direction,” and so on? Well, in the week ahead of us taking our yearly break, the ever-so energetic Kotaku published a piece criticizing the Game Awards‘ awarding The Last of Us: Part II‘s Directors for their… direction in a crunch-heavy development. That crunch-heavy development was criticized along with questionable times for processes at Naughty Dog and the broader industry as a whole. Should awards be handed out to those who’ve possibly steered the ship into every iceberg in sight? To use a crude and clumsy metaphor, no.

It is simple, but I don’t think that is where the story should or can end. From a basic understanding of how the Game Awards hands out nominations and this year’s inclusion of last year’s Jedi Fallen Order: one could assume Cyberpunk 2077, which released on the day of the awards, will creep up again next year. After some time with the game, I will say it is a fantastic and beautiful idea of this large open-world in a dystopian nightmare. However, upon launch and in recent weeks following, it is a broken husk of what everyone was shown via taut E3 trailers. So much so that Sony began issuing refunds, followed by Microsoft and others.

While I disagree with Mike on some of his praise, he is right that with proper hardware and an ability to look past one or two things, it can be an enjoyable game. Nevertheless, in the matter of a week, CD Projekt Red has burnt all the goodwill people were willing to give it following some shaky reviews as a result of poor management. Hours after many of us were set to leave for our two-week break: Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier noted that employees of CDPR are furious at the unrealistic deadlines, overtime, and more ahead of the game’s launch. This also raises questions on SVP Michał Nowakowski’s claim they weren’t aware of the PS4 and Xbox One issues, who weren’t they listening to?

Upon release the game was fraught with issues, including one that could be harmful to those with epilepsy. Since then, the developer has patched in a safe mode, though it still launched with something that could physically harm players. Not only that, but it is noted by several people that some of the ardent fan-base defending the game before they’d played it, were sending videos of said issues to trigger seizures. This is where we were as the game launched.

Upon Cyberpunk 2077‘s actual release with millions finally getting to play it, some were dismayed at the broken nature of the game. Of course, console players saw obscenely low frame-rates, textures not loading for several seconds, and explosions not triggering in scripted chase scenes. Across the board there were UI issues, you’d be stripped naked when entering your apartment, and quests had a chance of not starting. This was also in addition to weapons disappearing on checkpoints, AI being unable to see things (such as walls) two feet in front of them, sexual appendages hanging out, displays showing “debug,” Police AI being non-existent, and vehicles stored only as that and not their model or color. These as just some of the issues.

So, the question now is: with a release so broken, goodwill shattered like fine china, and the companies stock plummeting in the days and weeks following its release: Will Cyberpunk 2077 be Geoff Keighley’s yearly advertisements’ Game of the Year 2021? Will it be given the best direction? known mismanagement and gross overtime practices that are recognized in the industry as “crunch” have a history of winning, now. Overall: Where does the most anticipated game of 2020 by many people fall a year from now when awards are handed out?

I do not doubt that in a six-months, a year, or a year and a half, Cyberpunk 2077 will be a great game that deserves high praise by those that are willing to look past disagreements with its representation, or lack thereof. However, that is several months of work that should have been completed before its launch, and it will be several more gigabytes of patches. In several years to decades, this brings the inevitable. Sony, Microsoft or others may close down servers that push updates, and someone may want to reinstall Cyberpunk 2077, yet no patches may come. A game’s reputation is not built on what it is several years from now, it is that first impression. This one was a broken shell of a game.