If you are anything like me, for the past few years you have been watching your Twitter feed, or your news outlets for any news of Cyberpunk 2077 and it’s release. Any new information that would give some insight into the kind of game this was going to be was devoured by us all, feeding the hype train.
The news surrounding the flaws, bugs, exploits and general fustercluckedness of this release is well-known at this point. I have no wish to flame the fire of the mob here, suffice to say, can we get a “F” in chat for CD Project Red?
The real problem now, is what to do as a player who really wants this game to work, and wants to play it! Is it worth playing right now? Most users don’t seem to think so. Falling from its initial high of over 800,000 concurrent users, at the time of writing this article, the numbers are bleak. An hour ago, on Jan 27th, only 36,266 people were playing. My napkin math tells me its about 4 percent of the peak on Steam only)
For comparison, Grand Theft Auto V–a game released in 2013–still retains around 16 percent of it’s all-time user high of 360,000 concurrent users (again this is only for steam users, I suspect the number is actually much more favorable when you account for console players).
Even worse, is the barrage of YouTube videos showcasing how inferior the technology, physics, AI and so many other aspects of Cyberpunk 2077 is when compared to GTA V, and even GTA IV, an even older game.
So, what do we do?
I haven’t even tried to play in over a month. I am so upset with how far the disinformation spread, how little certain aspects of the game were even attended to. So, like many of you, I am sitting on the sidelines. I am not willing to play the game in the current state.
And don’t get me wrong, I think overall, it’s got a lot of potential! I really think that some of the areas of the game are really, really fun. The gameplay does have an excellent feel, and while I feel the balance is.. much to be desired, I think the story is engaging and compelling.
And that’s why I am not playing. I’m waiting. I haven’t given up on the game, I am holding for it to be completed. I’m sure it won’t be finished to a place where we all expected it to be anytime soon, but take a look at No Man’s Sky. Hello Games released a broken, buggy garbage fire, and the game is genuinely fun to play now. It got fixed, and while I think Cyberpunk does have some serious flaws which most likely can’t ever be fixed, such as the complete lack of story-changing choices in the game, I think the finished product, whenever we may see it shows promise.
