The Hampton Script

Ryland Staples |Staff Writer

Video games took the world by storm in the latter part of 2020 when the new PlayStation 5 (PS5) came out in early November. Everyone wanted to get their hands on the new console to have the latest and greatest gaming machine. Some tried to get it to play next generation (next-gen) games such as “NBA 2K 21” and “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” or wanted it in order to resell the PS5 to make a profit. There has been one game that has been on gamers’ minds since it was initially announced back in 2012, “Cyberpunk 2077.” 

The futuristic first-person role-playing-game (RPG) based in the far-off year of 2077 was first announced to the public in 2012. When the full game was released Dec. 10, 2020, gamers quickly realized that game was, for lack of a better word, broken. 

Players would randomly not be able to move or would be flung across the map. Non-Playable-Characters (NPC) would appear and disappear at random, or their faces would be distorted. There are plenty of videos and pages on YouTube dedicated to making compilation videos of “Cyberpunk 2077” glitches.  

Game consoles were pushed to their absolute limits just to run the game. There were major problems that made the game unplayable. The game was so bad on some console generations that Sony pulled the game from its online store and created ways for people to get a refund. 

A demonstration of “Cyberpunk 2077” was shown at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018. The event showcased the game and the vibrant life within Night City. However, it has been recently discovered following the game’s release that the developer of the game, CD Projekt Red, had pushed the restart button in 2016. The demonstration that was shown in 2018 supposedly showcasing the game was almost entirely fake. 

CD Projekt Red recently released a video on Twitter apologizing for “Cyberpunk 2077” and said the game “did not meet the quality standard we wanted to meet.” The company is known for producing one of the best games this past decade in “The Witcher 3,” so it was surprising this game would have so many problems.

It’s strange that a game that was infamously known for delays can still come out like this. At first, “Cyberpunk 2077” was going to be released April 16, 2020, but the game suffered from a series of delays through the year before it was released Dec. 10.

Since CD Projekt Red was delaying the game, it would seem the company would not want its development teams to participate in “crunching,” which is the action of game developers working on the game for hours at a time over multiple days.

According to a Bloomberg article, “There were times when I would crunch up to 13 hours a day,” said Adrian Jakubiak, a former audio programmer for CD Projekt Red. “… A little bit over that was my record probably — and I would do five days a week working like that.”

As someone who enjoys playing video games to relax and escape from reality for a little while, I don’t want my enjoyment of a video game to come at the cost of someone not being able to spend quality time with their family and loved ones. I also think it’s very inconsiderate to release a game that was half-finished at best out to the public in order to make a quick buck off the game’s name.