Still feeling burned by Cyberpunk 2077's release? CD Projekt knows that trust might be "lost forever", but hopes you'll try The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2077's sequel
"You can repair some things, but it's a certain perception of the company that's never going to come back."
Cyberpunk 2077's developers still have hope that they can restore the faith of anyone still struggling to trust CD Projekt again following Cyberpunk 2077's notoriously rocky release all those years ago - with The Witcher 4, Cyberpunk's sequel and project Hadar set to take over this mission from Phantom Liberty.
Speaking to Eurogamer about the events surronding Cyberpunk's launch and the work that went into the game's long road to redemption, CD Projekt joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski and associate game director Paweł Sasko spoke about the ongoing process of convincing folks that it is safe to feel excited about the work the studio's doing.
"None of us were actually even thinking about it in any financial terms," Nowakowski said of some small crisis meetings that were held not long after Cyberpunk's launch, "but it's a problem for the future that we were hoping to build for this company, for its perception amongst fans. And that's something that, to be honest, we've probably lost forever. And yes, you can repair some things, but it's a certain perception of the company that's never going to come back. Is that good or bad? I don't know, but it's a fact."
Sasko, meanwhile, was a bit more hopeful that anyone still struggling to trust CD Projekt - perhaps referring to groups like those on last-gen consoles, since Cyberpunk 2077's excellent Phantom Liberty expansion seems to have already gotten a lot of the next-gen and PC folks who could experience it back on board - can perhaps be convinced to do so by the projects the studio currently has in the works.
"It might be a situation that never happens for some of them," he said, "but that's unfortunately the price we have to pay for what happened. But I hope that, throughout the work that we are doing, throughout the things we are showing, we can actually win some of those people around - and when they hear someone talking to them about the incredible experiences they can have in, let's say Phantom Liberty, or the next Witcher, next Cyberpunk, or next Hadar [CD Projekt's new IP], at the moment when they see there's that incredible value in that game, they will actually reach out for it, play it and enjoy it."
The developer added: "There's nothing we can say to convince anyone. There's just a moment when we need to show up."
In other recent Cyberpunk 2077 news, one of the game's developers recently discussed a quest that was considered early on in its development which would've seen you turn into a construct via some Superhot-style time mechanics.