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During an interview with MCV@gamescom, Cyberpunk 2077’s producer Richard Borzymowski addressed the hype around CD Projekt Red’s upcoming release, that’s easily the most anticipated game of 2020.
“We are feeling under pressure but we are taking [it] as encouragement and we are lucky that what we’re showing to the community is well received. They have given us a certainty that the vision that we had is the right one, is a good one,” he started, adding that while he may not be personally involved in the decision-making of what material is being shown to the public he “really likes” the approach taken.
“The approach here is to be transparent,” he continued. “We are showing we’re not making an illusion out of words. We’re sharing what we’re up to, and ensuring that we are on track to do something that will be well received.”
In theory then, CD Projekt Red’s approach should avoid disappointment from players. After all, living up to their expectations, he suggested, can be extremely challenging for developers. It’s a topic upon which Borzymowski was prepared to offer his experienced advice.
“Very often I think, not only in games, you can also see it for books and the like, you are promising things before the launch without actually showing anything behind it, and you are building up this hype basically just based on words,” he said. “Even if the product in the end is very good, the hype bar is higher than what you can actually deliver. Even if the end product is very high, people will just be: ‘Oh this is not what I thought it was going to be’.”
And when MCV@gamescom asked if CD Projekt Red was worried about the hype surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, he replied: “Worrying is not the word… We know that people are waiting for this game. And the only thing we can do – the very same thing we did on The Witcher – is to pour our heart and soul into it.”
On top of the buzz coming from the video games community, Cyberpunk 2077 needs to live up to the expectations of the original pen-and-paper RPG’s fans as well, with 2077 being “a continuation, a sequel” of that tabletop game, Borzymowski said.
“It was really important for us to stick to it as much as possible because we know there is this community of Cyberpunk fans out there. We are not exploiting the Cyberpunk franchise. We’re developing it together with Mike [Pondsmith, creator of tabletop RPG Cyberpunk 2020],” he concluded.
