5 ms·

It is great because game preservation isn't what game industry shareholders usually interested. CD Project makes great games, but gaming industry is all-or-not

by brachkow 10mo ago

It is great because game preservation isn't what game industry shareholders usually interested. CD Project makes great games, but gaming industry is all-or-nothing. They already had colossal flop at their previous release. If another flop happens shutting down GOG is clearly would be on a table as a cost cutting measure.

nicolaslem 10mo ago
I don't think it's fair to call Cyberpunk 2077 a colossal flop. It had an awful release, but the company stood behind it and fixed everything that needed fixing. Five years later it is now an acclaimed game that sold 35 million copies.
- paxys 10mo ago
  Yup, Cyberpunk 2077 has sold more copies in the same time frame than Witcher 3, which is routinely highlighted as one of the best and most successful games of all time. You have to give kudos to CD PROJEKT for not just abandoning the game after a bad launch (which is what every other major studio would have done in its place) but patiently fixing problems and constantly adding content over 5 years to get to the state it is in today. And the game has no online requirement, no multiplayer, no microtransactions. Just one paid expansion which added a ton of new content. Rare to see this behavior in the industry today.
  - mashlol 10mo ago
    > which is what every other major studio would have done in its place Afaik CDPR doesn't make many games. If one flops, that might be the end of them. I don't see abandoning a game as a valid option for them from a financial perspective. Makes much more sense to fix the issues and sell more.
    - Aeolun 10mo ago
      I think it’s more related to their reputation? People will buy the next one if they trust CDPR will fix anything wrong with it even if it flops. Kinda how you trust paradox strategy titles to get several years of updates and expansions.
  - SXX 10mo ago
    Studious dont abandon failed releases because they are evil. Its just releases fail because they run out of money so there just nothing to burn to save them. CDPR just was lucky enough to make enough money of failed release to fix it. Most companies get no chance to do it.
    - kryptiskt 10mo ago
      EA is notorious for throwing games out there and abandoning them as soon as they don't turn out to be massive hits. That is a company that has plenty of resources to support the games and fix the bugs.
      - SXX 10mo ago
        Not gonna protect EA the company here, but lots and lots of other games also flop on release because money.
- mikepurvis 10mo ago
  Definite kudos to them for that, though notably it's down to 65% off now, so presumably many of those copies were for not-full-retail price. And the Switch 2 port likely cost considerable engineering effort and underperformed as well.
  - jama211 10mo ago
    The fact that sales exist is a thing for every game just about
    - mikepurvis 10mo ago
      Sure, but when you speak of Arc Raiders selling 7M copies by late November, basically all of those were at $70-80 because the game just came out. Maybe I'm not contributing meaningfully to the dialogue, but talking about total sales across a 5 year lifespan means you're necessarily including all those packrat users who picked it up on deep discount and haven't even booted it up once (or, like me, played two hours and in that initial window wasn't especially grabbed by the story, characters, or progression systems that the game was wanting me to engage with). It's different when something really pops off on release and sells all those copies in the first few months.
      - jama211 10mo ago
        Sure, might make some difference. Probably not that helpful given we’re just doing back of the napkin stuff anyway
aeyes 10mo ago
What game was a colossal flop? Cyberpunk was released too early but they kept on delivering patches and then the players game. It's their highest earning title.
- jama211 10mo ago
  I also started playing it this year and the experience at least now has been fantastic
- GaryBluto 10mo ago
  IIRC they fixed various bugs but they didn't fix the broken promises. The biggest problems with Cyberpunk were architectural, things that would basically require redesigning the game to match what was promised.
  - gamesieve 10mo ago
    Online sentiment has drastically changed about how bad those broken promises were - a near-complete turnaround, similar to what happened with No Man's Sky. Basically from when the DLC was released, most people started feeling that they fulfilled the essence of everything that was promised.
    - SXX 10mo ago
      IMO Cyberpunk is fundamentally not the game their marketing promissed. They marketed it as actually non-linear RPG and beyond very beginning of the game they just could't deliver on it. After tons of patches and DLCs its just became a very very good game. Just not what was promissed.
      - prmoustache 10mo ago
        Those kinds of promises only engage a small niche of nolife who follow news about upcoming games. Most customers only hear about a game when it is released and reviewed and/or recommended by a friend and will never have heard about them.
tester756 10mo ago
>CD Project makes great games, but gaming industry is all-or-nothing. They already had colossal flop at their previous release. If another flop happens shutting down GOG is clearly would be on a table as a cost cutting measure. Cyberpunk was really successful from $$ standpoint and continues to generate huge revenue even today.

nicolaslem 10mo ago

I don't think it's fair to call Cyberpunk 2077 a colossal flop. It had an awful release, but the company stood behind it and fixed everything that needed fixing. Five years later it is now an acclaimed game that sold 35 million copies.

paxys 10mo ago
Yup, Cyberpunk 2077 has sold more copies in the same time frame than Witcher 3, which is routinely highlighted as one of the best and most successful games of all time. You have to give kudos to CD PROJEKT for not just abandoning the game after a bad launch (which is what every other major studio would have done in its place) but patiently fixing problems and constantly adding content over 5 years to get to the state it is in today. And the game has no online requirement, no multiplayer, no microtransactions. Just one paid expansion which added a ton of new content. Rare to see this behavior in the industry today.
- mashlol 10mo ago
  > which is what every other major studio would have done in its place Afaik CDPR doesn't make many games. If one flops, that might be the end of them. I don't see abandoning a game as a valid option for them from a financial perspective. Makes much more sense to fix the issues and sell more.
  - Aeolun 10mo ago
    I think it’s more related to their reputation? People will buy the next one if they trust CDPR will fix anything wrong with it even if it flops. Kinda how you trust paradox strategy titles to get several years of updates and expansions.
- SXX 10mo ago
  Studious dont abandon failed releases because they are evil. Its just releases fail because they run out of money so there just nothing to burn to save them. CDPR just was lucky enough to make enough money of failed release to fix it. Most companies get no chance to do it.
  - kryptiskt 10mo ago
    EA is notorious for throwing games out there and abandoning them as soon as they don't turn out to be massive hits. That is a company that has plenty of resources to support the games and fix the bugs.
    - SXX 10mo ago
      Not gonna protect EA the company here, but lots and lots of other games also flop on release because money.
mikepurvis 10mo ago
Definite kudos to them for that, though notably it's down to 65% off now, so presumably many of those copies were for not-full-retail price. And the Switch 2 port likely cost considerable engineering effort and underperformed as well.
- jama211 10mo ago
  The fact that sales exist is a thing for every game just about
  - mikepurvis 10mo ago
    Sure, but when you speak of Arc Raiders selling 7M copies by late November, basically all of those were at $70-80 because the game just came out. Maybe I'm not contributing meaningfully to the dialogue, but talking about total sales across a 5 year lifespan means you're necessarily including all those packrat users who picked it up on deep discount and haven't even booted it up once (or, like me, played two hours and in that initial window wasn't especially grabbed by the story, characters, or progression systems that the game was wanting me to engage with). It's different when something really pops off on release and sells all those copies in the first few months.
    - jama211 10mo ago
      Sure, might make some difference. Probably not that helpful given we’re just doing back of the napkin stuff anyway

aeyes 10mo ago

What game was a colossal flop? Cyberpunk was released too early but they kept on delivering patches and then the players game. It's their highest earning title.

jama211 10mo ago
I also started playing it this year and the experience at least now has been fantastic
GaryBluto 10mo ago
IIRC they fixed various bugs but they didn't fix the broken promises. The biggest problems with Cyberpunk were architectural, things that would basically require redesigning the game to match what was promised.
- gamesieve 10mo ago
  Online sentiment has drastically changed about how bad those broken promises were - a near-complete turnaround, similar to what happened with No Man's Sky. Basically from when the DLC was released, most people started feeling that they fulfilled the essence of everything that was promised.
  - SXX 10mo ago
    IMO Cyberpunk is fundamentally not the game their marketing promissed. They marketed it as actually non-linear RPG and beyond very beginning of the game they just could't deliver on it. After tons of patches and DLCs its just became a very very good game. Just not what was promissed.
    - prmoustache 10mo ago
      Those kinds of promises only engage a small niche of nolife who follow news about upcoming games. Most customers only hear about a game when it is released and reviewed and/or recommended by a friend and will never have heard about them.

tester756 10mo ago

>CD Project makes great games, but gaming industry is all-or-nothing. They already had colossal flop at their previous release. If another flop happens shutting down GOG is clearly would be on a table as a cost cutting measure. Cyberpunk was really successful from $$ standpoint and continues to generate huge revenue even today.