Effective Marketing For Cyberpunk 2077 Only Hurt It More

The only people that don't know near Cyberpunk 2077 at this point live under a rock, and I seriously mean that. They must lack an cyberspace connection or at the very to the lowest degree are locked away from order because anyone who has ventured outside or so much every bit looked at whatever screen within the last month or so should know what this game is. It's been incredibly unavoidable, and this is because developer CD Projekt Red has spent a lot of money on two things: the game'due south development and the game's marketing campaign.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the almost I've seen of a game since Halo 3 in 2007. I tin can't remember a game that has been so present in advert space exterior of GameStops, gaming outlets, and the occasional YouTube video. Instead, Cyberpunk 2077 has been everywhere. Information technology'due south on your Tv, on Instagram, even plastered beyond screens in Times Square.

Outside of this massive advertising entrada, there was even a live-streamed Night Urban center Wire video series dedicated to updating fans on new features before release. Something I often reported on and built upwardly fans' expectations to new highs. Night City Wire was something that hadn't been done in gaming before, at least not to this scale.

CD Projekt Cherry was giving in-depth details on how its upcoming game was being developed and what content was going to exist in that location at launch. All of this data was being presented well before the game itself was actually in the easily of the players. Pair that with its extensive gameplay trailers, and it was virtually equally if you already knew how Cyberpunk 2077 was going to play.

Except that patently wasn't the case. Unlike Halo three, Cyberpunk 2077 released as a buggy and broken mess on near available platforms. I won't recount the unabridged debacle that was the game'due south get-go-week post-launch, but here are some highlights:

Terrible performance on base last-gen consoles, including crashes
CD Projekt Carmine pointing players towards PlayStation and Xbox if they wanted a refund
Cyberpunk 2077 was pulled from digital store shelves
A bug that would render saves corrupt if they exceeded 8MB in size

Marvel's Avengers | Holiday Content Trailer

Of course, at that place'southward so, so much more than. And it'due south a shame because if you read my review of Cyberpunk 2077, you'll notice that I really liked the game quite a bit. By the bugs, it'due south a downright fun experience fix in an open world different any other. And I think that if those bugs and glitches didn't exist, and this game released without being in what felt like early access quality, it would have been one of my favorite games this year.

[Cyberpunk 2077] made an epitome of itself in the minds of gamers.

That doesn't matter though, because a lot of people would have still been disappointed by it. Cyberpunk 2077 did something that all major releases try to do; it made an image of itself in the minds of gamers. And its biggest mistake, and ane that rendered the marketing budget and ad time all worthless, was setting such high expectations with its marketing.

Cyberpunk 2077 key art woman standing in front of night city at day

Of course, this issue isn't exactly uncommon. The virtually notable instance of a game's advertizement setting expectations high for me was at E3 2022 when Lookout Dogs was first shown off. The game was absolutely stunning during its presentation. For the time, its visuals exceeded expectations, and it featured numerous new gameplay elements, like its hacking system and other mechanics that just looked fun to play with.

Lookout Dogs' story ends the same way most of these stories terminate though — the game released and didn't look or play like anyone thought it would. It was i of the first titles I bought for my PS4 and I completely hated it.

But at that place's a large difference between Watch Dogs and Cyberpunk 2077. I was only excited for Lookout man Dogs because of a unmarried gameplay trailer. CD Projekt Crimson saw that players were already jumping out of their seats for Cyberpunk and decided to go along pouring marketing on top of marketing. More ads, more showcases, making Keanu Reeves the confront of the game, making glorified developer diaries (Night City Wire). This wasn't merely some marketing entrada, it was a mixture of ego on the part of CD Projekt Scarlet, and gluttony on the part of consumers.

I was guilty of wanting more information after hearing more and more about the game. Every fourth dimension I reported on another filibuster, I'd get and watch one of its lengthy gameplay trailers. When a Nighttime City Wire episode wrapped upwardly, I would go back and watch the 1 or two prior. I was totally hooked on everything Cyberpunk 2077, and even when the studio didn't share any new information, I kept going back to what was in that location.

All of this amounts to what has been an extremely successful marketing campaign. It did everything information technology was supposed to: it got players excited, it made them recall nearly the game, it bolstered pre-orders. Information technology did everything right. Only in this case, that's the worst thing that could have happened.

Cyberpunk 2077 man at a diner eating

Cyberpunk 2077 in its buggy land would have been disappointing plenty to someone who had never heard of it and walked into a GameStop ane day and bought it. But for the gamers out at that place that had been waiting for it for months —if not years— it was a awe-inspiring let-down. Subsequently all its hype, expectations were raised well beyond anywhere they should actually be, and in the end, Cyberpunk 2077 released in a country that was not at all what was presented. These ii factors made for a perfect shit-tempest. The time later its release would only serve to rub table salt into the wounds of people that had looked forrad to and bought Cyberpunk 2077.

"This wasn't but some marketing campaign, it was a mix of ego on the part of CD Projekt Scarlet and gluttony on the office of consumers."

Simply worst of all, it felt as though CD Projekt Red was playing consumers for fools. Of course, I don't know the inner workings of the company or what talks were like surrounding its release. However, at that place were clear internal decisions made in that location to deceive customers. CD Projekt Cerise articulation CEO Adam Kicinski fifty-fifty said in an earnings call on November 25 that the game ran "surprisingly good" on last-gen consoles. When the time came for the programmer to showtime handing out review codes to the press, they were solely for PC, assumedly because the game ran best on that platform. Console players picking upCyberpunk 2077on launch day had no proper metric to guess the game past except for CD Projekt Red'south own marketing materials, and those promises could never be fulfilled.

Johnny Silverhand Cyberpunk 2077 Keanu Reeves

Video game marketing is already tricky for consumers to navigate. They, and even I, sometimes take to parse out what is true and what is as well good to be truthful. There are very few AAA games that keep all their promises and live upwardly to their marketing materials. Figuring out where the scripted trailer ends and the real gameplay begins is key to existence an informed consumer in the gaming industry.

…going frontward, I feel information technology will be hard to trust annihilation that comes from CD Projekt Red.

Cyberpunk 2077'due south marketing campaign was then massive that it was impossible to sort through it. Everything was on the same level of utterly vivid. Even members of the media who were able to play the game early on said that it exceeded their expectations. At that place was no reason to believe that Cyberpunk 2077 was going to turn out the way it did. At to the lowest degree, that'south what CD Projekt Red wanted consumers to think, and for the most part, it got that.

Cyberpunk 2077 V hiding round a corner of an alley, gun drawn

Now, CD Projekt Red has to deal with the repercussions of its morbid marketing entrada. Besides a landslide of refunds of the game being doled out past Sony, Microsoft, and GameStop, CD Projekt Ruby may have some legal trouble on its hands every bit well. A Manhattan-based constabulary firm filed a adapt last calendar week against CD Projekt Red on behalf of anyone that bought stock in the company. Part of the printing release regarding the lawsuit explicitly cites the "defendants' (CD Projekt Red) statements about its business concern, operations, and prospects," calling them "materially false."

Information technology's a shame to say this, only going forrad, I feel information technology will exist hard to trust anything that comes from CD Projekt Ruby-red. The developer, which I revered for its work on the Witcherfranchise, hasn't done itself whatsoever favors. The company lied to its consumers time and time again, and its marketing entrada forCyberpunk 2077is the biggest lie of all. At present that lie is everywhere. It's plastered on walls, nowadays on screens, and information technology's doing its chore well. It's damn near impossible to non be reminded of the game at some point during the twenty-four hour period, and that's i of the worst things going for it right now.

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