CDPR lead who accepted the blame for Cyberpunk 2077's awful launch becomes co-CEO, says "quality will always remain the most important to us"

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New CDPR co-CEO insists that business and artistic decisions "will be based on these principles"

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Cyberpunk 2077 lead and CD Projekt Red creative head Adam Badowski has seemingly come full circle after the RPG's comeback, assuring fans that "quality will always remain the most important to us" as he assumes a new role as co-CEO of the whole studio.

Speaking to an audience of investors, Badowski, who'll join Michaɫ Nowakowski in the co-CEO position as Adam Kiciński shifts to a strategic role within the company, said: "I want to promise you that, in spite of this change, the foundations, the main principles behind CD Projekt's reputation will be maintained. 

"We will be fair to business, to gamers. We will create very deep, mature, immersive games. Quality will always remain the most important to us. Our business decisions or our artistic decisions will be based on these principles. I hope we will give you a shit-load of entertainment. This is my objective, and this is our objective."

In a recently released documentary chronicling Cyberpunk 2077's development and disastrous launch, Badowski spoke reflectively about the project's setbacks, accepting the blame for the state it launched in. His comments as co-CEO seem to echo the painful lessons of Cyberpunk's production. 

"It was my fault," he said. "Our games are super complex, super big. Pretty long when it comes to navigation, this constellation of quests. I thought that world-building was the most important thing for me, and navigation. I was focusing on that and I missed this point of how big, how important technical excellence is." 

"From a distance we knew that we should spend more time polishing the tech of the game, give more time to the team, because the team is great," he said elsewhere in the documentary. 

As it worked to save the RPG, CD Projekt Red spent over $85 million on Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.