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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)

#61

Post by yunyu »

f6v wrote: post #17
jsnell wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, come on. This level of transparency is really fascinating. What other gaming companies, or tech companies for that matter, do you remember going into the details of a bad launch this soon after it happened. Or really even much later.

It doesn't seem like they address the main issues, like AI. I doubt you can treat the absence of major attributes of an open-world game, like car chases, as a bug. They're cleverly focusing on minor glitches and bugs in their talk.

They explicitly addressed the AI point:

So, for the first question – whether we’re focusing just on technicalities or gameplay elements; things like AI – for example. To be honest – these are the same for us, from the production standpoint AI and NPC behavior fall within the general category of bugs, so if I can give you an answer – I think it does actually include that as well.

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

#62

Post by ObsoleteNerd »

pavon wrote: post #32
_cs2017_ wrote: post #27

Wasn't it obvious to anyone who play-tested on last-gen consoles that the game is nearly unplayable and so will receive horrendous reviews? Presumably CDPR employees are not afraid to convey such bad news to the management. So why did the management still decide to go ahead with the release this year? After reading this transcript, I didn't find the answer to these questions. "Underestimated the scale and complexity…

They overestimated how much they could fix in the time between the initial delivery and the day-one patch.

Yeah it reads to me more like they were pressured to release it quickly before the holidays by investors, and the decision makers didn't listen to those below saying that it just couldn't be done (to the quality everyone expected).

I've been playing it on both PS4 Pro and PC and haven't experienced any game-breaking issues, and I was as hyped about this game as anyone (huge fan of the original RPG and CDPR in general), but I still would've preferred they just came out and said "We fucked up, we need more time" and delayed it until next year. People would've been pissed, media would've eaten them alive, but ultimately when the game came out it would've been 10x bigger than it is even now, and the game truly has potential to be one of the greats... after about another year of work.

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

#63

Post by _cs2017_ »

pojzon wrote: post #38
_cs2017_ wrote: post #27

Wasn't it obvious to anyone who play-tested on last-gen consoles that the game is nearly unplayable and so will receive horrendous reviews? Presumably CDPR employees are not afraid to convey such bad news to the management. So why did the management still decide to go ahead with the release this year? After reading this transcript, I didn't find the answer to these questions. "Underestimated the scale and complexity…

CDPR is owned in 66% by investors. And investors want ROI and there is nothing better than holiday season for that. They also knew about how bad the game runs on PS4 and released it either way because “money>everything”. Its really that simple.

I'd think this was worse for the investors than not releasing in December and delaying until ~March? Stock price down over 30%.

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

#64

Post by aspaceman »

_cs2017_ wrote: post #27

Wasn't it obvious to anyone who play-tested on last-gen consoles that the game is nearly unplayable and so will receive horrendous reviews? Presumably CDPR employees are not afraid to convey such bad news to the management. So why did the management still decide to go ahead with the release this year? After reading this transcript, I didn't find the answer to these questions. "Underestimated the scale and complexity…

Besides other reasons I think management thought they could get away with it.

Reviewers were given the PC version, so I imagine it was a calculation of “how many reviewers are willing to wait on traffic, just to review old consoles?”

It just didn’t work out for them.

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

#65

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

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…

That review hits home for me. The game was ok. It can be beautiful at times, but everyone has done it already and did it better ( GTA, Fallout, Deus, Skyrim, Half-life ). For some reason, I decided to try out Stadia version and it was an acceptable experience for me.

But the part about the immersion breaking over ridiculously bad AI, shallow world... Yeah.

I read the transcript and based on what I saw, there is no way there is not a CYA email saying something along the lines of 'it is not ready. if you release it, it will bomb'. I wonder whether board members will be removed.

edit: Well, now I am annoyed. I can't mow down children in car ..sigh

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

#66

Post by nthj »

pavlov wrote: post #37
CamelCaseName wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There's centuries worth of legislation about equity. You can still get screwed, but "I'm giving you the right to own shares in this company" means something in the eyes of the law. Getting paid in participation tokens doesn't.

This is absolutely technically correct. Practically speaking, maybe not so much.

http://stockoptioncounsel.com/blog/standards-ownership-canth...

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

#67

Post by briga »

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…

I mean, that's great for you, but people are bashing CDPR for a good reason: the last-gen console versions are unfinished buggy messes. In a few hours of playing I've had multiple crashes, constant bugs, drops to 15 FPS, just generally terrible performance. I've literally never played such a buggy game before. For a game that had 8 years of dev time the state of the game is pretty egregious

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

#68

Post by aspaceman »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #30
f6v wrote: post #3

If you watch game footage, it's obvious it's half-baked. However, so many people violated the number one rule: no preorders. This is literally the only thing gamers can do to incentivise developers to not release buggy games. But here we are again.

is the inverted side of "no preorders" also "No epic games"? Something has to fund development and at a certain point investors will not risk the lack of sales. Versus a preorder is an actual sale.

Preorders aren’t used to invest development, but rather recoup some costs. They also provide a signal to publishers that allows delays to happen.

You’ll still be in the “red” during your marketing push, especially since marketing is so expensive.

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

#69

Post by TheGallopedHigh »

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…

Side question: how do you find the quality of GeForce Now? What games have you tried?

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

#70

Post by nickthegreek »

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…

I got it on Stadia and it’s blowing my mind. I can play it on my Tv or projector thru chromecast ultras, or on my pc seamlessly and it looks great. I got to try it on the iPad Pro next. I love it. This is the breakout game for cloud computing.
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