CD Projekt Red Aren’t Worried About Competition for Cyberpunk 2077
CD Projekt Red recently made the announcement that the Cyberpunk 2077 release date is being delayed from April to September, shifting the game’s launch date into the busiest release window of 2020; the September – November period which tends to feature many of any given year’s biggest games. However, CD Projekt Red don’t seem to have any concerns about potentially facing more competition.
The New Cyberpunk 2077 Release Date and the Threat of Competition
CD Projekt recently held their first investor call following the delay to the Cyberpunk 2077 release date. As one might expect, several participants on the call were concerned about the shift to September. Indeed, their concerns appeared to be rooted to the fact that the game will now face increased competition. However, Adam Kiciński, the joint-CEO of CD Projekt, didn’t share that concern. “We believe that our game – deep single-player RPG with a nice story – will find its place on the market regardless of date,” he explained; “so that’s our approach.”
In response to a similar question from another caller, CD Projekt’s Michał Nowakowski offered further reassurances along the same lines; “There’s always things happening no matter what period of the year you’re looking at,” he said; “In the games industry there’s no time of the year where you could say that any given month is ‘safer’ for whatever reasons. So in that regard we don’t see September as being more threatening than April or June.”
Of course, Kiciński and Nowakowski may simply be trying to allay the fears of the company’s investors about the new Cyberpunk 2077 release date. However, it’s also easy to see why they aren’t worried. After all, the title has won ‘Most Wanted Game‘ two years in a row, and continues to draw enormous attention. The game has already been in development for more than five years; a delay of a few months isn’t going to suddenly bring an end to the ongoing hype. While there will be other big releases in September 2020, it’s unlikely that many will be able to muster the same sort of attention that Cyberpunk 2077 will receive at launch.