Obsession can be a positive force. For a developer as prolific as CD Projekt Red, it means spending months with the artist brush, detailing characters and environments to the utmost degree. It’s painstaking, but think of the competition. With games like Red Dead Redemption 2 in the wild, where attention to detail reaches levels of insanity, it makes sense that the Witcher developer feels challenged. But it appears that the company isn’t preparing to back down from a good fight.
During a conference call, CEO Adam Kiciński was asked about what the company learned from Rockstar’s latest debut. He praised Red Dead Redemption 2, putting it on a high pedestal. Against that particular behemoth, Kiciński said he wanted CD Projekt to release games of equal caliber.
“Without a doubt, quality is of paramount importance,” Kiciński said. “We strive to publish games which are as refined as Red Dead Redemption 2, and recent Rockstar releases in general.”
After commending the game, Kiciński talked about what the company learned from studying Rockstar’s efforts. According to him, the success and detail of Red Dead 2 taught CD Projekt that it needs to “publish extraordinary games and that’s exactly what we are planning.”
Cyberpunk 2077 is already looking damn great, but CD Projekt isn’t satisfied yet.
Polish Polish
CD Projekt has rarely shied away from impressive visuals. The Witcher 3 was an immaculately beautiful game. In fact, players are still sharing gorgeous sunsets over stretching green landscapes to this day. For Cyberpunk 2077, the company’s next massive RPG, the goal is to exceed Geralt’s world in every way.
“We are filling the world with content and tweaking things, and this involves a great deal of hard work on the part of developers,” Kiciński said. “What I can say today is that we’re progressing fast and according to plan.”
Kiciński continued by talking about the concern regarding polish. The Witcher 3, as striking as it was, had its fair share of bugs. It was common to hear of missing merchant icons and lost experience points. And let’s not forget about our dear Roach. I know I wasn’t the only one who found the curious horse on some roof or another. Though Cyberpunk is still in development, Kiciński says game polish is high on the to-do list.
Soak it in.
“When we finish, there’s also the hugely important phase of polishing all that game content,” he said. “There was a question about the quality of the game we plan to deliver at launch and our intention is to deliver something of great quality. Once the game is complete, we can begin to patch various bugs, both major and minor, and we are setting aside time to complete this process.”
Whether or not CD Projekt can achieve the level of detail and polish it desires is still unknown. After all, Cyberpunk 2077, though reportedly playable to the end, is still far away on the horizon. We have yet to see if the game can match up to the boast of the CEO, or if we’re going to have to figure out just how to get a car down off the top of a building.
