Can The Witcher 4 be the saving of CD Projekt Red?

Lying against your customers is always a bad idea. It was only the Polish high placed peeps who didn't know that. Because of their idiocy, the game Cyberpunk 2077 got released in an unfinished state and still didn't get the finishing touches it deserves. The reputation of the company got flushed down the drain and that makes me wonder: can The Witcher 4 save CD Projekt Red?

The company and game developer CD Projekt Red got put on the map because of their The Witcher games. We have to admit that the company got a lot of fame amongst development studios because of the first 2 The Witcher games. But it was The Witcher 3 with its open-world that made the company loved by many.

With the help of their "gamers-first" mentality and incredible post-launch line-up, CDPR became a well-known variable, who even slaughtered Bethesda in the RPG genre of games. People were all of a sudden interested in what CDPR would do next, after The Witcher 3. It was back in 2018 that they announced the successor, Cyberpunk 2077 and peoples had really high hopes.

Those high expectations came from the fans who were charmed by the company that, during a time of micro-transactions, still gave free DLCs to their players. Only for the bigger story additions, they asked a bit of money. CD Projekt Red created a reputation for themselves in which the player always comes first.

That reputation stood in the centre during the years of promotion for the game Cyberpunk 2077. The game was only going to get released when finished. It is for that reason that many players can take it when the development studio comes with several delays. Everything was going to be okay because those genius developers were only going to release when it was ready!

That was even something the creators believed in themselves. At least if we may believe the communication from journalist Jason Schreider. According to some anonymous employees, there was a certain vibe going through the company. A vibe of many long working days and, most importantly, a vibe that everything was going to solve itself during the last couples of weeks before release. The high placed peeps within the company believed in their own hype and trusted that everything was going to turn out splendid.

And then there was that 10th of December 2020: the release of Cyberpunk 2077, quickly followed by a disaster like no other. Customers were pissed about the state of the game on their consoles. The trust of investors and partners got damaged and an anonymous hacker stole a lot of data because he thinks they (CDPR) deserves it.

In the end, the game got cancelled and taken out of the Playstation store until there's a better state of the game. Customers who wanted their money back had the option to do so. In the foreseeable time, all benevolence was flushed down the toilet. This because of the bad quality in which the game got released as the lies that came with it.

The biggest lie of them all was the lie about the state of the game and the fact that it wasn't known by the developer. That is something nobody can believe. Not even until this point. Also, the many reports about the work environment and atmosphere amongst the employees were something that opened up many people's eyes. All of a sudden there was a whole new (and worse) look on the company. Add this to the equation and the half-hearted apology and you know it's been more than enough.

The trust in the studio is gone and that will stay this way for the next couples of years. The internal question needs to be: "How do we get that trust back?" They have to prioritise this. At least, after they fixed Cyberpunk 2077.

The most obvious tactic is announcing The Witcher 4. That could be the last ace up their sleeves. The fourth part in this series of games could be the way to get the trust back of the players, their fans, investors and partners. If they do it right this time.

The main goal of announcing The Witcher 4 should be turning the heads of their fans in a positive direction. The Witcher games are a very positive association with CDPR and they need to turn heads in that direction again.

Another side-effect of this announcement could be the removal of attention on Cyberpunk 2077. As it was like sweeping it under the rug. EA and BioWare use the same tactics after the Anthem disaster. In two years of time, they announced 2 more games: Dragon Age and Mass Effect, even though the games are far from ready.

But ... let us be honest. Announcing The Witcher 4 could be problematic as well. The core of the problem is that CD Projekt Red needs to prove that they learned their lesson. They really have to announce it in a good way and everything around it needs to be as before. Think about the road the walked to The Witcher 2 and 3. If they don't work in the same way as before (before the announcement of Cyberpunk 2077), it could turn out southways real fast again.

Whatever they would announce next will ask for a certain proportion of scepticism. That's only logic. A whole lot of The Witcher fans will wait it out. It's pretty obvious that nobody is going to board the next hype train without a certain amount of doubts. 

No matter how many trailers and gameplay the development studio would reveal, there will be only one way for the company to prove that they are back on track: the release of the game. The next time CD Projekt Red releases a game, it will have to be playable and even more than just that. It will have to be impeccable with no room for big or a lot of bugs. 

Whether that game would be The Witcher 4 or something else, it doesn't really matter. Although The Witcher 4 would have many benefits regarding earning the trust back from the fans. Another possibility is, that CD Projekt Red redeems themselves with another expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, while they also come with a major upgrade of that game. All and all CDPR still has plans to go forward with Cyberpunk 2077. Some expansions are in the pipeline and a separate multiplayer. Who knows what's going to happen, right? Anything can happen.

When and if CD Projekt Red is going to continue with those plans is still something the fans have to wait and hope for. It is not unthinkable that the company is going to get rid of the game after they released the promised patches to fix the game and the free next-gen upgrade. Although ... many fans of the genre, including myself, are hoping that CDPR is not going to abandon ship. We're hoping that CDPR doesn't lose their drive and just go for it and make this game as was once promised and hyped. Not for those lying high placed peeps, but for the developers who worked on their brainchild, day and night, for many years.