On its first anniversary, Cyberpunk 2077 devs discuss the highs and lows of game development

Cyberpunk 2077 developers are discussing the game's journey on its first anniversary.

CD Projekt Red's first foray into the world of Cyberpunk launched on December 10, 2020. After multiple delays, it was still far from a perfect launch for the long-awaited follow-up to The Witcher 3. Bugs and technical difficulties lead to the game being pulled from the PlayStation Store. PS4 and Xbox One players were fairly aggrieved at its struggles to perform on those consoles, while current-gen consoles and PC players found themselves disappointed by the reduced scope of Night City.

Since then, the developer has been working hard to turn the game's fortunes around. While new-gen updates have been delayed to next year, PC user scores have been creeping up, and a significant update and a DLC expansion were recently announced for Spring 2022. A year later, as their difficult journey seems to be approaching its end, some of Cyberpunk 2077's developers have been sharing their feelings about the game, exactly a year after launch.

Quest director Pawel Sasko took to Twitter, saying that the game had "delivered the biggest challenges in my career and thought [sic] me persistence, humility, and courage." He said he "adored" the game, and hoped for "many more years," with it.

Dear #Cyberpunk2077,Today you are 1 year old. You have delivered the biggest challenges in my career and thought me persistence, humility, and courage.I adore you, tough bastard. To many more years 🥂 pic.twitter.com/8rhn3S2ZUGDecember 10, 2021

Senior level designer explored the game's development in more detail, saying that after switching from The Witcher 3's Blood & Wine DLC in 2016, the development of Cyberpunk 2077 "blessed me with the most exhilarating, hilarious, exhausting, frustrating, and insightful moments in my life." While he acknowledges that "gamedev isn't easy and it sure wasn't easy to make this game, [...] I wouldn't want to trade my experiences for anything."

The development blessed me with the most exhilarating, hilarious, exhausting, frustrating and insightful moments in my life, accompanied by a team of incredibly talented and wonderful people and an equally amazing community; the amount of stuff I got to learn truly is a treasure.December 10, 2021

He went on to say that "having seen my colleagues fighting, pushing and succeeding not only for improvements on our game, but the way we do things as a whole has left me in awe and optimistic about the future," referencing restructuring at CD Projekt Red intended to reduce crunch and help avoid another launch scenario like Cyberpunk's.

"I, we, know there's still quite a patch before us, but we're treading it, slowly and steadily. We're not done yet, and that is a feeling that has kept me going in the tougher moments for sure."