Cyberpunk 2077 is a good game, but there's no getting around the fact that it could be a lot better. Even if you look past the rough launch, the bugs, the hastily issued refunds and all the other troubles of the last few days, there are problems with it that I'm not so sure are easily fixed.
That's not to say developer CD Projekt RED can't fix them, and it's not to say that I don't think Cyberpunk 2077 will be a genuinely phenomenal RPG one day. We've seen the likes of No Man's Sky and Destiny turn things around, and we know that CDPR - the studio that gave the world The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - is capable of true greatness. It's just a shame we have to wait a little longer for that greatness, and a real pity that the hard work and passion of the team that worked on Cyberpunk 2077 has been tainted by a rushed launch that was no fault of their own.
But I'm ever the optimist, and I choose to believe that the failure of Cyberpunk 2077 - and there can be no arguing that this launch was a failure - will be to the benefit of the studio's next game... a project I think we're all fairly certain will end up being The Witcher 4.
Here's the thing for those of you that never played the first two Witcher games: they're not actually very good. The second one is decent enough, in its own way, but The Witcher 3 is lightyears ahead of its predecessors. It's important to remember that CDPR didn't just get lucky and come out swinging with this genre-defining RPG on its first go - it took the team three tries to turn The Witcher into what it is today. Cyberpunk 2077 might not be the universally acclaimed winner we were all expecting, but that's because CDPR went back to the drawing board and started to build an entirely new kind of RPG, one that's worlds apart from The Witcher 3.
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With The Witcher 4, CD Projekt RED has the rare opportunity to build on one of the greatest RPGs of all time and learn from one of the most divisive and troubled launches of the last few decades. Through this melding of two very different experiences and critical receptions, the next instalment of The Witcher saga could well end up being the finest work the Polish studio has ever delivered. But to hype up a game too much before it's even been announced would show that we haven't actually learned nothing from the painfully long build-up to Cyberpunk 2077. We absolutely can't get too ahead of ourselves again.
That eight-year wait, combined with the fact that Cyberpunk 2077 was suddenly released after all that time before it was close to finished, was one of the cruellest blows of all for those of us waiting so patiently for the sci-fi RPG.
Yes, there were the vocal "fans" who complained at the news every delay... but I also believe that so many more of us were content to wait for as long as we needed to for Cyberpunk 2077 to be done, even - as so many joked - if that meant waiting until 2077 itself. To see it swiftly collapse in on itself after eight years of work when another six months to a year could well have ensured the game shipped in a much better state was painful for a lot of fans. I can only imagine how it felt for the developers.
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We've already seen Grand Theft Auto fans, who have gone nearly 10 years without so much as confirmation of a new game, look at Cyberpunk 2077's launch and reassess their own situation. A lot of people who might have complained about the wait before are now, I think, much happier to let Rockstar take the time it needs to.
Similarly, I choose to believe that many of the gamers who gave CDPR hassle for all the Cyberpunk 2077 delays will also have changed their tune now, and will be a lot more content to support the studio in however long it takes to deliver The Witcher 4.
We can also assume that the creative talent behind that game will want to take as long as they need to, because when is that never not the case? Whether they're allowed to, I suppose, comes down to the investors and the people at the very top of CD Projekt. I would hope, given the absolute kicking the studio's reputation has taken over the last week, that even the most monetarily motivated people at the company would think twice before rushing The Witcher 4.
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