CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał Nowakowski thinks the studio has yet to complete a “full redemption arc” after the “heartbreaking” launch of Cyberpunk 2077, but he’s hoping it can win back some fans with The Witcher 4.
Nowakowski reflected on the Poland-based game developer’s journey during a recent conversation with Edge (via GamesRadar). The interview saw him open up about how “heartbreaking” the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was for the team – and for fans.
“I’m not 100 per cent convinced we went through the full redemption arc,” Nowakowski said. “I’m convinced that we lost the faith of some people indefinitely, and that’s a fair thing.”
It’s been nearly six years since Cyberpunk 2077 undid much of the goodwill CD Projekt Red had accumulated following the release of its 2015 hit, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Years of excitement for the futuristic dystopian RPG quickly fizzled out after launch-day players were met with a long list of game-breaking bugs, annoying visual glitches, and frequent crashes.
These issues were especially prevalent on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and although early sales managed to see CD Projekt Red quickly recoup its development and marketing costs, the company’s reputation had clearly taken a massive hit in only a few days.
Now, Cyberpunk 2077 is in much, much better shape, and it has managed to sell at least 35 million copies. Still, Nowakowski feels there’s work to be done when it comes to how fans see CD Projekt Red, but he’s hoping games like The Witcher 4 will help win them back.
“But I do hope we will be able to make it back – if not with The Witcher 4, then with whatever comes next,” he said.
Nowakowski continued, explaining how CD Projekt Red changed in the aftermath of the launch of Cyberpunk 2077: “We were left with seasoned, battle-hardened veterans; leaders who were able to carry a different kind of challenge on their shoulders.”
“Our dream is to be making more games, although we never want to turn into the studio that’s going to be launching a big game every year,” he added. “It may happen, but this is not the goal. We have a rough 10-year rolling plan, but the goal is not to flood the games market with CDPR games. We just want to make really cool games, and we don’t want to have a ton of IPs either. We’re not planning to grow in that way.”
Although development on Cyberpunk 2077 has largely concluded and The Witcher 4 has no release date, CD Projekt Red isn’t leaving fans with nothing to play. A surprise expansion for The Witcher 3 called Songs of the Past, for example, is expected to launch in 2027. Meanwhile, the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel known as Cyberpunk 2 also entered pre-production last year, and a Witcher remake is also in development.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
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