For the third time this year, CD Projekt RED is delaying the release of its eagerly-anticipated RPG, Cyberpunk 2077. No longer set to launch on November 19th, the title is now on the cards for a December 10th release. This particular push relates to the difficulties in preparing the game’s compatibility with nine platforms.
CD Projekt RED shared the news with fans in the following Twitter post, complete with the now infamous text-laden image against a bright yellow background.
We have important news to share with you pic.twitter.com/qZUaD6IwmM
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) October 27, 2020
The main meat of the message notes that CD Projekt’s “biggest challenge… is shipping the game on current-gen, next-gen, and PC at the same time.” Thus, there are nine “test versions” to prepare, including ensuring the game is backward compatible for next-gen use. CD Projekt’s post continues, “since Cyberpunk 2077 evolved towards almost being a next-gen title somewhere along the way, we need to make sure everything works well and every version runs smoothly.”
This, of course, begs the question of why the studio won’t simply wait to complete the full-on next-gen version before releasing the RPG at all. After all, the full next-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game aren’t releasing until sometime in 2021 anyway. An answer may lie in a desire, or a need, to start reaping the fruits of the team’s labor in terms of financials. After all, the project has been in development for years and has been postponed several times now. Who can say how much wiggle room CD Projekt has left?
Cyberpunk 2077 will now come to PS4, PC, and Xbox One on December 10th. Players who pick up a copy on current-gen hardware will receive access to a next-gen upgrade at no extra cost when it releases in 2021. They can still play on next-gen consoles via backwards compatibility.
[Source: Cyberpunk 2077 on Twitter]
