CDPR Reportedly Rethinks Bonus Criteria for Employees Following Cyberpunk 2077's Launch Issues
Cyberpunk 2077 has been a major commercial success for CD Projekt RED already, having accrued over 8 million pre-orders and already having sold enough to turn a profit for the company. But the game has had its fair share of issues at launch, especially on consoles, which has led to backlash from the community, and, in turn, tumbling share prices.
Over on Metacritic, the game currently occupies a score of 90- which would be high by any metric for most, but seems to be falling short of the expectations CD Projekt RED had set for the game. It seems, however, that the same has also resulted in the company rethinking its criteria for bonus payouts to employees.
As Bloomberg reports, while previously bonus payouts for CD Projekt RED were dependent on their games receiving certain Metacritic scores and being released in a timely manner, the developer has now changed that structure, with developers now receiving those bonuses regardless of the Metacritic score, and regardless of any delays. This will be on top of regular annual profit-sharing payouts.
"We initially had a bonus system that was focused on the game's ratings and the release date, but after consideration, we believe that measure is simply not fair under the circumstances," studio head Adam Badowski wrote in an email written to CDPR staff. "We underestimated the lengths and complexity involved to make this a reality, and still you did everything you could to deliver an ambitious, special game."
Cyberpunk 2077 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia. The game will receive dedicated next-gen ports for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S some time in 2021.
Cyberpunk 2077 Tops UK Charts on Debut
Cyberpunk 2077 was by far the biggest release of the week (or the month, or the year), and unsurprisingly, it has topped the weekly sales charts for boxed video games in the UK (via GamesIndustry). It immediately becomes the second biggest launch for a game at UK retail, ahead of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War- though it trails first-placed FIFA 21 by quite a margin.
CD Projekt RED's RPG has 60% of its boxed sales on the PS4 and 35% on Xbox One. It's worth noting that the game had the majority of its sales digitally, with CDPR confirming that 74% of its 8 million pre-orders were done through digital purchases.
Meanwhile, FIFA 21, which topped last week's charts, has fallen to fifth place, trailing behind Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Other games in the top 10 are all rather familiar faces, including the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
You can check out the full top 10 for the week ending December 12 below.
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla
- FIFA 21
- Just Dance 2021
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Minecraft (Switch)
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
CDPR Stock Falls 29% Following Cyberpunk 2077 Launch Issues
Cyberpunk 2077 has been one of the most highly anticipated video games for millions for years now, and with the game now finally out, things should have been going swimmingly for CD Projekt RED. In a sense, they are. The game sold 8 million copies through pre-orders alone, became the biggest PC launch for a game to date, and its sales have already turned a profit for CD Projekt RED.
Even so, Cyberpunk 2077 has been at the receiving end of plenty of criticism from players and audiences following launch (its user scores on various sites stand in stark contrast to its Metacritic score), with its litany of technical issues on PS4 and Xbox One being the primary point of contention for many, and that has resulted in some bad press for CDPR.
So much so, in fact, that CD Projekt RED's stock has fallen by 29% since the game launched, with share prices for the company falling from PLN 443 on December 4 to PLN 313.9 (via GamesIndustry).
Cyberpunk 2077 is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, while PS5 and Xbox Series X/S ports will be arriving in 2021.
EA Reportedly Counters Take-Two's Codemasters Acquisition With £725 Million Bid
Recently, Take-Two Interactive announced their intent to purchase Codemasters for a deal that could be worth up to £750 million. The acquisition looked to be set in stone and was due to be completed in Q1 of 2021, but it seems EA have come in at the eleventh hour with a bid of their own that could pose some complications.
As reported by Sky News, industry insiders have claimed that EA have filed a bid of their own of up to £725 million, and that the same will probably be announced on Monday. It's possible that Codemasters could end up opting to deal with EA instead of Take-Two, especially if they feel they are being offered a better valuation by the former. Take-Two's deal included both cash and shares, and the latter in particular can fluctuate, so it's certainly possible.
Whether or not Take-Two Interactive will make a counter bid remains to be seen. EA confirmed earlier this year that they were interested in studio acquisitions (and were reportedly even in the running to purchase WB Games at one point), but them coming in at the final minute in a deal that looked all but done is still a surprise.
Stay tuned, and we'll keep you updated as this story develops.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink is Coming in 2022, PS5 Version Confirmed
It's been a long time since Cygames first announced Granblue Fantasy: Relink. Announced in 2016 as the first full-fledged console RPG in the series, it was initially being co-developed by Cygames and PlatinumGames, before Platinum were taken off the project and development moved completely in-house at Cygames in 2019. Since then, however, updates on the game have been scant, leaving many to wonder when it will release, and what the state of the project recently is.
Granblue Fantasy Fes 2020 recently kicked off, and at the first day of the event, the game's director Tetsuya Fukuhara spoke about the upcoming RPG. After apologizing for the infrequent updates and admitting that it was announced too early, Fukuhara confirmed that Granblue Fantasy: Relink will now launch in 2022.
In addition to that, a PS5 version of the game was also confirmed. Then again, given its 2022 launch window, a cross-gen release isn't really the most surprising thing.
You can watch day one of Granblue Fantasy Fes 2020 in its entirety through here.
Resident Evil Village Will Feature a Familiar Enemy Type, Leak Suggests
Capcom's recent ransomware leak attack has spilled the beans on a lot of the company's upcoming plans, a lot of which has had to do with the Resident Evil franchise, from the planned launch window of Resident Evil Village to a Switch-focused Resident Evil Revelations 3. Another new leak sheds some light on another interesting detail. Potential spoilers ahead, so turn back now if you don't want details of the game spoiled.
More leaked images from the game have been doing the rounds on the internet (via DSO Gaming), and they show that the Molded, who were the primary (and very nearly the only) enemy type in Resident Evil 7, will be coming back in Village. What's interesting is that they're coming back in many more shapes and much larger sizes, from what looks like a dragon to something that looks like an eldritch beast ripped straight out of a Lovecraft story. The leaked images, which you can view through the link above, honestly look more like Dark Souls than Resident Evil, which is an interesting aesthetic, if nothing else.
Given the fact that Resident Evil Village is a direct narrative sequel to Resident Evil 7, with Ethan and Mia Winters both returning as well, it makes sense that the Molded will be coming back, too. It should be interesting to see how the game weaves them into the story though.
Resident Evil Village is due out some time in 2021 for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Capcom are currently also looking into porting the game to PS4 and Xbox One.
The Callisto Protocol Developer Talks About Dead Space Comparisons
Dead Space fans have been getting over the heartbreak of the franchise's (and its developer's) demise for some years now, but recently, we were treated to the announcement of a game that looks to be filling the void that it left behind. Striking Distance announced The Callisto Protocol at The Game Awards, with its development being led up by Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield, and the team working on it being comprised of many former Dead Space developers. That, and the fact that the game has a sci-fi survival horror setting, has led to many comparisons between the two properties.
Speaking recently in an interview with VG247, Striking Distance's chief development officer Steve Papoutsis (who was also managing director at Dead Space developer Visceral Games) addressed the comparisons.
"It's not surprising given that a lot of the people that are working on the project also worked on the Dead Space series," Papoutsis said. "It's interesting that people are putting that together. We're passionate about the game we're working on and it's nice to hear people reminiscing about those games that many of us have fond memories around."
"There's just a passion here for horror games from me, Glen and some of the wonderful team we have assembled," Papoutsis said when asked about what formed the core of the game's idea at the outset of development. "We were hoping to do something that was single-player driven, story-focused that provided a lot of opportunities for scares. We had some cool ideas around the theme in terms of where it's going to take place – on a prison colony on Jupiter's dead moon, Callisto. That was literally the top-line lift pitch."
The Callisto Protocol is due out some time in 2022 for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Mass Effect 4 Might Not be Abandoning the Andromeda Story, Project Director Hints
We've known for a while now that the next Mass Effect is in early development, but recently at The Game Awards, BioWare decided to formally confirm that with a teaser trailer. That trailer has gotten a lot of attention over the last couple of days, owing to just how many potential plotpoints it hints at for the sequel. Recently, project director on the game, Michael Gamble, took to Twitter to fire off another such hint.
The beginning of the trailer shows a shot with two different galaxies in view, which has led some people to wonder whether the Milky Way galaxy (the setting for the original trilogy) and the Andromeda galaxy (the setting for Mass Effect: Andromeda) might both factor into the next game's story somehow. Gamble suggests that that might be the case, stating on Twitter that the shot with both galaxies was put into the trailer intentionally. He added in a subsequent tweet that BioWare decided to show both "for a reason."
Mass Effect: Andromeda sets up a lot of really interesting things, but the future of that arc has been in question for a while now. It looked unlikely for a while that we'd get a direct sequel to that game, and with the next Mass Effect going back to a post-Mass Effect 3 Milky Way galaxy, those doubts were only compounded. It should be interesting to see how the sequel will bridge both arcs though.
intentional.
— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) December 11, 2020
who knows. maybe not? but we show both for a reason
— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) December 11, 2020
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered Now Has a 60 FPS + Ray-Tracing Option Too
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales recently received an update that added a third graphics option with 60 frames per second performance on top of ray-tracing being enabled. While earlier, the game had offered two options on the PS5 going with one or the other, the new option offers the best of both worlds with sacrifices in some other areas. As Insomniac promised not too long ago, now, that option has been added to Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered as well.
Called the Performance RT mode, similar to Miles Morales, it runs the game at 60 FPS with ray-tracing enabled, while scene resolution, reflection quality, and pedestrian density are adjusted to allow for those enhancements.
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered is currently available exclusively on PS5, and is available exclusively as bonus download code with Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales' Ultimate Edition. In our review for the remaster, we said, "Spider-Man was one of the best games on the PS4, and it is now one of the best games in the PS5's burgeoning library." You can read our full review through here.
Elden Ring Could be Shown off in "A Month or Two" – Rumour
Elden Ring has been one of the most hotly anticipated people for millions since it was announced over a year ago, but since said announcement, there have been next to no updates on the game. FromSoftware have thanked fans for their patience, but as more opportunities for them to show the game pass by without any new updates – such as the recent The Game Awards – and those updates still don't come, fans are growing more impatient.
However, it seems it might not be too long before we get another look at Elden Ring. GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb recently spoke about FromSoftware's upcoming RPG in a podcast, and suggested that Elden Ring is far enough along in its development that the developer could have shown it off at The Game Awards if they had wanted to (which falls in line with recent reports). Grubb went on to say that FromSoftware will probably provide a proper update on Elden Ring before too long- perhaps even a month or two.
"They're obviously working on this game… they didn't show it here, but I think they probably could have if they wanted to," Grubb said (via VGC). "I think it's at that state. But let's just give it a month or two more."
"Here's one thing I've heard that I can say: have a little bit more patience, but just a little bit more," he said. "That doesn't mean days, and I don't think it quite means weeks, but it doesn't mean months and months and months."
Given the mystery surrounding the game's release window, it should be interesting to see what platforms the game launches for. It's likely that Elden Ring will end up being a cross-gen release- though of course, if Grubb's statements are anything to go by, we'll find out for sure soon enough. Stay tuned for more details.