CD Projekt Red Co-CEO Admits Cyberpunk 2077 Permanently Damaged Trust With Some Players
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
CD Projekt Red joint CEO Micha Nowakowski candidly admits that the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 permanently lost the faith of some players, even as the studio works to rebuild its reputation ahead of The Witcher 4.
Building back a player base after a botched launch is one of the steepest climbs in modern gaming, and CD Projekt Red knows that reality better than almost anyone. Speaking recently in the Edge Knowledge newsletter, joint CEO Micha Nowakowski reflected on the disastrous 2020 release of Cyberpunk 2077, admitting that the studio may have permanently lost the trust of a portion of its audience. Even though the team managed a remarkable technical and cultural turnaround, culminating in the critically acclaimed Phantom Liberty expansion and overwhelmingly positive community reviews, leadership remains realistic about the lasting scars left by that initial rollout. Nowakowski noted that reputation was previously the studio's greatest asset, making the fallout genuinely heartbreaking for the team.
For a studio that once enjoyed near-universal praise following The Witcher 3, the Cyberpunk 2077 launch triggered massive investor backlash, unprecedented digital storefront refunds, and the game being pulled entirely from PlayStation's digital marketplace. While subsequent patches, current-gen optimization, and smart anime tie-ins like Edgerunners eventually won back a huge chunk of the community, Nowakowski acknowledged that some players are simply gone for good. That kind of candor is rare in an industry where marketing departments usually try to sweep past mistakes under the rug as quickly as possible.
Looking ahead, CD Projekt Red is applying those hard-earned lessons to its upcoming pipeline, including the highly anticipated Witcher 4. Nowakowski emphasized that the studio wants to avoid scaling into a machine that pushes out a blockbuster every single year. Instead, the team is focusing on a long-term rolling plan centered on depth and quality over market saturation. As digital ownership, live service fatigue, and player expectations continue to evolve across PC and consoles, rebuilding that core community goodwill will dictate whether the studio can fully reclaim its past prestige.
Original reporting by Vikki Blake over at Eurogamer.
Tags: CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 4, Gaming Industry, PC Gaming
Original article: Eurogamer