Recent reports have blamed CD Projekt RED for sharing a fake Cyberpunk 2077 demo during E3 back in 2018. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier alleged the E3 showcase “was almost entirely fake”.
After interviewing “more than 20 current and former CD Projekt staff”, Schreier wrote the piece and cited “unchecked ambition, technical woes and unrealistic deadlines” for the Cyberpunk 2077 saga.
CD Projekt RED Head of Studio Adam Badowski responded to these claims, saying “that’s what the ‘work in progress’ watermark is for”, amongst other things. See his response below.
Fake Cyberpunk 2077 demo
‘Cyberpunk 2077’ demo was ‘work in progress’
Badowski acknowledged that the demo looked different. However, he said the “final game looks and plays way better” than the demo shown at Electronic Entertainment Expo.
“It’s hard for trade show game demo not to be a test of vision or vertical slice two years before the game ships, but that doesn’t mean it’s fake. Compare the demo to the game. […] If you look at that demo now, it’s different, yes, but that’s what the ‘work in progress’ water is for“
Adam Badowski
He explained Schreier’s readers might not understand that “games are not made in a linear fashion; and start looking like the final product only a few months before launch”.
CD Projekt Red staff force
Badowski also pointed out that Schreier “talked with 20 people”, some being former CD Projekt RED employees, and that only one of those 20 sources was not anonymous.
That doesn’t reflect on the thoughts and opinions of CD Projekt RED’s staff force of more than 500. Schreier therefore cannot say that “most of the staff knew and openly said [Cyberpunk 2077] wouldn’t be ready for release in 2020.”
Schreier also mentioned in his article that “a few non-Polish staffers shared stories about coworkers using Polish in front of them, which violated company rules”.
Cultural differences in studio
Badowski said everyone speaks English during meetings; it’s compulsory for all company-wide emails and announcements to be in English. It’s a multicultural environment with more than 44 nationalities in the studio.
“Rule of thumb is to switch to English when there’s a person non-speaking a given language. It is, however, pretty normal for Germans speaking German, Poles speaking Polish, Spaniards speaking Spanish, etc”.
Adam Badowski
Schreier responds
Schreier said he appreciated Adam’s responses, saying “the team declined to provide an interview before [the] article went live”. He added that Badowski is welcome to share his perspective on the topics not mentioned.
He added: “CD Projekt chose not to respond to specific questions or make Badowski available for an interview for our article; it’s interesting to see these comments arriving now”.
“I do regret bringing up the language issue since it’s gotten a disproportionate amount of attention and is not a particularly big deal. Worth noting, however, what Badowski doesn’t address: the brutal crunch and the unrealistic timeline. I’d be happy to interview him any time”.
CD Projekt RED updated the Cyberpunk 2077 website over the weekend. As per the update, the team is actively working on fixes, and working with Sony to bring the game back onto the PlayStation store.
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