CD Projekt joint-CEO says it's "fair" that the studio "lost the faith" of some of its audience after Cyberpunk 2077 launch
CD Projekt joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski has been unusually blunt about the fallout from Cyberpunk 2077’s launch, calling the period “heartbreaking” and saying it’s fair that some players never came back. He doesn’t see the studio as fully redeemed yet, even after years of fixes and a major turnaround in the game’s reputation.
That matters because CD Projekt is now trying to carry the lessons of Cyberpunk into its next big projects. Nowakowski said the company still has “more to prove,” and suggested that trust will have to be earned again through future releases, whether that’s The Witcher 4 or whatever follows it.
He also pointed to an internal upside from the recovery effort: the studio emerged with “seasoned, battle-hardened veterans” who can handle bigger production challenges. For teams watching CD Projekt, that’s a reminder that post-launch repair work can reshape a studio’s culture and leadership as much as its codebase.
On the tech side, Nowakowski defended the switch from Red Engine to Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4. He said onboarding for the old engine could take six to nine months, and that Epic has let CD Projekt dig into Unreal’s internals so the studio can build on top of a stable foundation instead of maintaining its own engine from scratch.
“I'm convinced that we lost the faith of some people indefinitely, and that's a fair thing.”
- what
- CD Projekt says it lost some players’ trust after Cyberpunk 2077’s launch, and still has more to prove.
- who
- Michał Nowakowski, joint-CEO of CD Projekt, made the comments at DevGAMM Gdańsk in conversation with Jörg Tittel.
- when
- Cyberpunk 2077 launched at the end of 2020; the comments were made at DevGAMM Gdańsk.
- impact
- The studio’s recovery effort has shaped its culture and leadership, and its engine strategy now centers on Unreal Engine 5 for The Witcher 4.
Recovery and sales success, but trust damage remains.
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