“’Ready when it’s done’ is not just a phrase we say because it sounds right, it’s something we live by even when we know we’ll take the heat for it,” reads the statement from Marcin Iwiński, co-founder of CD Projekt Red, and Adam Badowski, the head of the studio. “At the time we are writing these words, ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is finished both content and gameplay-wise. But with such an abundance of content and complex systems interweaving with each other, we need to properly go through everything, balance game mechanics and fix a lot of bugs. A huge world means a huge number of things to iron out and we will spend the additional time doing exactly that.”
The new date specified in the delay announcement has led to some discussion among industry observers and journalists that November is now the most likely release window for the upcoming next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Some even speculated that “Cyberpunk 2077” may be slated as a launch title for one of the two consoles.
“Last generation, Sony and Microsoft launched one week apart,” video game business journalist and consultant Mike Futter wrote in a message to The Post. “I expect that it will be about the same for this generation. Additionally, Microsoft has a history of partnership with CD Projekt Red. ‘The Witcher 3’ was shown off on Microsoft’s E3 2013 stage (and it was one of the major highlights). Additionally, ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is one of the handful of currently confirmed third-party Smart Delivery games.”
The day that Xbox announced its Smart Delivery feature, CD Projekt Red was the first third-party studio to sign on and eagerly announced its intent to use the feature in “Cyberpunk 2077.” Smart Delivery means that new Xbox games will work on any version of the console, including the Xbox One or the new Xbox Series X.
The studio behind the critically acclaimed “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” had delayed the game once before in January. At the time, Iwínski and Badowski also wrote that “the game is complete and playable,” citing polish and play testing as the rationale for the delay.
“We want ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ to be our crowning achievement for the generation and postponing launch will give us the precious months we need to make the game perfect,” the two wrote in an announcement on Jan. 16.