Cyberpunk 2077: Lead Gameplay Designer leaves CD Projekt

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red is currently working flat out on Patch 1.2 for Cyberpunk 2077, which should bring a lot of game improvements. The update should have already been released, but a cyber attack on the studio's IT infrastructure had brought work to a standstill for some time. In the midst of these turbulent times, lead gameplay designer Andrzej Zawadzki is now announcing his departure from CD Projekt. Zawadzki wrote on Twitter: "After almost eight years, my time at CDPR is coming to an end. It is time for a new adventure. To every person I met on the way- thank you :), it was an honor and a pleasure. " Today's lead game designer started at CD Projekt as a QA tester for The Witcher 3 and its two extensions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. When he switched to the cyberpunk team, he got the role of junior gameplay designer. In the meantime he was also the RPG coordinator for the project before he finally rose to senior gameplay designer.

Recommended editorial content At this point you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. Reasons for saying goodbye to Andrzej Zawadzki are not known. During the chaotic launch phase of the game, when criticism, completely exaggerated hateful comments and even death threats rained down on the developers, Zawadzki was one of the developers who was one of the most vocal in opposing the angry crowd. He spoke of the fact that the developers were only "people like you" and that death threats were completely unacceptable. When his former colleague Kyle Rowley, who now works at Remedy, asked what he was going to do next, Zawadzki simply replied with "For now, long vacation :)".

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Is ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ In ‘No Man’s Sky’ Mode Or Getting Abandoned?

Cyberpunk

CDPR

It has been three months since the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, and players have mostly either forgotten about the game, or have been wondering what on earth is going on. While core elements of the game were good at launch, including its central storyline and surprisingly coherent combat, the game was a patchwork release of technical issues and broken promises from past previews.

Since then, the game has undergone a series of hotfixes and one “major” patch, 1.1, which inconveniently introduced a different gamebreaking bug that had to be fixed later. But fundamentally, the game’s performance, especially on consoles, has not received any truly major overhauls, and Sony still refuses to even sell Cyberpunk 2077 on the PlayStation store for PS4 or PS5 due to the state it’s in, which has customers asking for frequent refunds.

CDPR had to delay what it calls its biggest patch to date until allegedly the end of this month after a recent hack crippled the studio. But there’s been an ongoing debate about what all the silence and lack of substantial changes to the game means, which was taking place well before that.

Is CDPR just willing to “let Cyberpunk go” and move on to other projects? Or are they just putting their head down and pulling a No Man’s Sky, working hard, but silently, on features that will turn the public’s perception of the game around?

No Man's Sky

u/the2bad

I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

First of all, I don’t think CDPR is abandoning Cyberpunk, either this game or the series as a whole. They have formatted the entire structure of the company to now support alternating games from The Witcher and Cyberpunk, and they’re not going to just throw in the towel after this launch, especially since despite all the drama and problems, the game still sold extremely well.

I have no doubt that CDPR plans to move ahead with plans to try to re-energize the game with the next gen version coming later this year, and then paid, sizable DLC after that. I also have to believe they are going to keep moving forward with their grand multiplayer Cyberpunk project in an effort to replicate the monstrous success of GTA Online. There’s just too much at stake here to walk away.

That said, we’re definitely not in a mirrored No Man’s Sky situation either.

Hello Games was a small, unknown studio with big dreams and bigger mouths, in the case of Sean Murray overpromising features before launch. But CDPR is different. They are massive and well-established and in this case, it feels like arrogance to lead them to this point, both in the overpromising, but also in the hand-waving they’ve done since launch.

One thing I’ve repeatedly seen since launch is CDPR not truly apologizing for the state of the game at launch for many players, or if they did so, it was followed up with comments by higher-ups in the company saying things like “well it sold well and got 9s and 10s on PC.”

Cyberpunk 2077

CDPR

And after that, there’s nothing, no real communication other than notes for underwhelming hotfixes and patches, or announcements of delays. We have zero idea what is actually coming in the 1.2 patch, and what aspects of the game it will touch. Is this just going to be more bug fixes and technical optimization? Or are larger issues finally being addressed?

While no, Cyberpunk 2077 is not a live service game, at this point they need a more coherent roadmap. They sort of released one a few weeks ago, but it was essentially just “we’re delaying free DLC until maybe spring. We’re delaying next gen release until the second half of the year.” That’s really not good enough if you want your playerbase to stay engaged and have a clear idea of what’s coming.

The roadmap

CDPR

Patch previews, talking about free DLC concepts, next gen improvements and so on would go a long way. Transparency. But that’s something we’ve never had from CDPR, only occasionally when it’s absolutely dragged out of them, and even then they don’t say much.

Overall yes, I would lean toward more in the “No Man’s Sky” direction simply because I don’t think CDPR can afford to abandon this game. I think it will require a metric ton of work to fix what’s currently wrong and add what’s missing, but I would not be surprised to see that be their main focus for the next two years at least. And while it’s quiet now, and even the next patch might not be anything to write home about, by the end of the year, maybe we’ll see this starting to take shape.

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