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CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

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Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#51

Post by Pfhreak »

IronRanger wrote: post #4

The major underappreciated factor for this release is the impact of COVID lockdowns - particularly enforced WFH - on the final development of this title. For me this is the single factor which has lead to so many of the problems inherent in the game. You cannot just pickup a multi-hundred person digital interactive art project (ie. a video game) and shift it online overnight. Still, I think CDPR were right to release…

> For me this is the single factor which has lead to so many of the problems inherent in the game.

This is absolutely not the case. The game was in dire straights long before Covid. (When did Poland lockdown?)

It's not clear to me that you can make the claim you made without providing some additional evidence as everything I've read about the project suggests that it has been in development for 8+ years, and has had a real rough go of things.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#53

Post by wil421 »

dotdi wrote: post #9

I see CDPR being bashed a lot and I wanted to chip in: I bought the game on release day on GOG and am playing it on a Macbook Pro via Geforce Now. It's running very well for me. I've had 0 crashes. Very few glitches, and if, then they were cosmetic i.e. didn't cause any gameplay problems†. The visuals are absolutely amazing. Combat is very nice. The skill tree is interesting. Night city is beautifully immersive and t…

So far on PC I’ve had a crash right after the character editor that caused the game to crash every time I open it. The next day a patch was pushed that fixed it. I could’ve even play on Day 1.

Dum Dum followed me around until I met Keanu’s character. He would move in front of people during cutscenes and I couldn’t even tell what was going on. Sometimes he would attack Jackie during combat and other times help us.

The first scene with the ripper doc was scrambled. Cutscenes played out of ordered or repeated.

Combat is like someone took Mass Effect 1 and combined it with a bunch of Bethesda bugs from Fallout and Skyrim.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#54

Post by Guthur »

Merman_Mike wrote: post #8

> Hi, this is Michał Nowakowski – the second question; would having more developers help deliver the game on old-gens? In terms of delivering the game at a certain point, it’s really not about the number of people; it’s not like throwing in – in the last month – 200 or so people would actually help. So, the answer is no; this is not related to the fact that we could have thrown 300 or 500 more people into the fray an…

I've come up with what I think is reasonably relateble analogy.

If I want to build a 1000 brick wall and it takes a bricklayer 1 sec to lay a brick will getting 1000 brick layers allow me to build the wall in 1 sec?

If you analyse this analogy you see where you might be able to get some scale, such as pipeline and starting on different parts, but it highlights challenges there such as alignment and communication.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#55

Post by pavon »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #33
IronRanger wrote: post #4

The major underappreciated factor for this release is the impact of COVID lockdowns - particularly enforced WFH - on the final development of this title. For me this is the single factor which has lead to so many of the problems inherent in the game. You cannot just pickup a multi-hundred person digital interactive art project (ie. a video game) and shift it online overnight. Still, I think CDPR were right to release…

I still have no idea why all these big game developers are releasing new titles and still supporting last gen hardware. You would think games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Halo Infinite would be launch titles that would entice people to buy new consoles.

The launch date for this game got pushed back multiple times. It was originally targeted for the then current gen consoles, and had many pre-orders on those consoles.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#56

Post by mdoms »

d1egoaz wrote: post #18

Game wasn't ready for consoles, they just lied about it. And it looks like even the PC game feels incomplete "It's all style but no substance.". https://steamcommunity.com/id/outxider/recommended/1091500/ "Janky. If I can describe it with one word. 8 years of hype to launch what looks like an Early Access game. It's glitchy, it's buggy, it doesn't run well unless you have an RTX card and DLSS enabled. And that's bare…

> The core of the game, the massive open world

Maybe it's just me, but I definitely wouldn't consider this the core of the game. For me the core is the single player story ("main quest" I guess). Maybe this is because I have played every CDPR game and The Witcher 3 is the only one so far with an open world and, and even there it was clear that the main story line was the crown jewel.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#57

Post by BitwiseFool »

mdoms wrote: post #47
BitwiseFool wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have no idea why all these big game developers are releasing new titles and still supporting last gen hardware. You would think games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Halo Infinite would be launch titles that would entice people to buy new consoles.

You really have no idea? The number of people on previous gen consoles dwarfs the people on new console, especially in a world where new consoles can't even nearly keep up with demand.

But wouldn't this be true for every console generation? I'm used to seeing launch titles drive new hardware sales.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#58

Post by notional »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #33
IronRanger wrote: post #4

The major underappreciated factor for this release is the impact of COVID lockdowns - particularly enforced WFH - on the final development of this title. For me this is the single factor which has lead to so many of the problems inherent in the game. You cannot just pickup a multi-hundred person digital interactive art project (ie. a video game) and shift it online overnight. Still, I think CDPR were right to release…

I still have no idea why all these big game developers are releasing new titles and still supporting last gen hardware. You would think games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Halo Infinite would be launch titles that would entice people to buy new consoles.

Wiki says Cyberpunk started development in 2016. Wiki also says hardware design for Xbox Series X started in 2018.

Wouldn't Cyberpunk team have been developing the game for 2 years before rumors even surfaced about the development of a next gen console?

The time lines don't seem like they line up to only building it for a next gen console that didn't have hardware architecture planned out yet.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#59

Post by muststopmyths »

goat_whisperer wrote: post #6
platz wrote: post #2

So, what sales-related project management questions for the CD Projekt Management Board does this answer for the HN crowd? Are people upset that this AAA game that is trying do everything on all devices for a huge audience doesn't perform well on the last-gen consoles on it's initial rollout?

Last-gen consoles? If it wasn't for the most recent delay of release date, Cyberpunk 2077 would've been released before PS5 and the new Xbox were even available for purchase. You're acting like people are trying to play this game on an NES. If the game ain't gonna work on a certain console, don't sell it for that console. Plain and simple. Or if you're going to release it anyway, at least let gaming critics review it…

This is also on the console makers. They brought PC fragmentation to the consoles by making different versions of the same console over the decade.

To make it worse, they will not let a publisher publish just to PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. Your game has to work on all versions of the console.

It's beyond idiotic and I'm surprised it took so long for the consequences to be visible.

I'm glad Sony at least seems to have backed away from fragmenting their own platform in this generation.

CDPR should have done their due diligence, obviously, but the platform owners have done them no favors by adding another dimension to the testing matrix.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#60

Post by aspaceman »

CamelCaseName wrote: post #26
pavlov wrote: post #7

This company has probably the shittiest gamified bonus system that I've ever heard of: "CDPR leaders would hand out tokens every month to staffers who went above and beyond, and those tokens were supposed to be transferrable into bonuses if the game met “certain criteria, like critical acclaim and a timely release,” according to the report." [1] Get paid in "crunch mode experience points" handed out by middle manager…

Doesn't sound much different than getting paid in equity at a startup.

If I got paid in tokens at a startup, I would riot. That’s some “company town” bullshit.
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