Cyberpunk 2077 Quest Director Says DLC Success Cannot Erase Disastrous Launch

Now developers realize how important the technical condition of a game is.

In September, CD Projekt RED developers and fans celebrated the anniversary of the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion. Game Quest Director Paweł Sasko also joined the celebration.

The launch version of Cyberpunk 2077 was full of various problems. Paweł Sasko shared that one of the main lessons learned from the game’s development history was understanding the importance of a game’s technical condition. It needs as much attention as the characters, the world, and the story, because bugs can prevent players from seeing the developers’ original vision:

Phantom Liberty was developed in parallel with massive changes that ultimately went into Update 2.0. During this period, perks, cybernetic implants, the police system, car combat, artificial intelligence, the loot system, and many other mechanics were reworked. One lesson I learned from the entire journey of Cyberpunk 2077: the technical condition needs to be given just as much attention as the characters, quests, and world-building. You can create something that you genuinely believe in from a creative standpoint, but technical problems can prevent players from seeing all of that exactly the way you intended.

The Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion received many positive reviews, but according to Paweł Sasko, this DLC does not erase the fact that the launch of the original game was problematic:

I think Phantom Liberty does not erase that launch of Cyberpunk 2077, and when talking about the studio’s history, I would not want to ignore that episode. When Gabe Amatangelo and I took the stage at The Game Awards in 2023 to accept the award for Best Ongoing Game, I was thinking about all the developers who continued to pour their hearts into Cyberpunk, and all of you who stayed with us, returned to the game, or decided to give it another chance.

Paweł noted that working on the DLC gave him valuable skills:

[…] what I remember most is what working on this expansion taught me in terms of game development leadership, trusting people, making decisions meaningful, giving characters room to develop, and accepting the “scars” that remain after creating such a complex project.

CD Projekt RED is currently working on the sequel Cyberpunk 2, but the project does not have a specific release date or release window.

The closest release in CDPR’s plans is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered, with the updated version slated for release on September 29. Next year, the release of the story expansion Songs of the Past is expected, and the launch of The Witcher 4 is scheduled for 2028.

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