DayZ Creator Reacts To Cyberpunk 2077 Launch: "They Made A Lot Of Money"

DayZ creator and influential game designer Dean Hall has shared his thoughts on the situation surrounding Cyberpunk 2077 and its embattled yet highly successful launch in December.

In an episode of the podcast Kiwi TalkNZ, Hall was asked if he thought the situation was similar to 2016's No Man's Sky, which released to controversy and issues before going on to become a smash hit. Hall remarked that both games were successes, and Cyberpunk 2077 was factors larger.

"No Man's Sky made a fortune and Cyberpunk made many fortunes so it's difficult really to swing it as anything other than a resounding success," he explained.

Hall also doesn't believe the issues with Cyberpunk 2077 will ultimately hurt CD Projekt Red. Buggy games from high-profile developers are nothing new, after all.

"Will it hurt CD Projekt Red in the future? I don't think it will I don't think so I don't think at all. I think if you look at Bethesda, and they release great games and cool games but they're buggy as as anything on release," he said.

One thing developers can learn from the Cyberpunk 2077 experience is that studios may want to be more cautious when it comes to releasing multiple editions of the same game across console generations. As we know, the versions of Cyberpunk 2077 for PS4 and Xbox One had some issues not found or as serious on PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as PC.

"I think hopefully it gives people pause in terms of chasing those day same-day releases for console," Hall said. "I think it's clear that [Cyberpunk 2077] had real problems on the legacy consoles and I think that was their big mistake. I think on the PC sure there were some bugs but my friends at least have you know most of the bugs are kind of funny more than and and that was kind of expected from [the developers of The Witcher] and they were doing a game with such scope."

In the end, Cyberpunk 2077 might have caused a stir, but Hall stressed that it was a monumentally and massively succesfull game in terms of the money it made.

"So I think it will have reverberations there but you know if people throw around, 'Oh hopefully we don't make a Cyberpunk,' I'm like well you know they made a lot of money.'"

Despite the issues and controversies surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, the game sold 13 million copies right away to become one of the fastest-selling RPGs in history. According to a recent report, the game also enjoyed the best digital game launch in the history of video games.

Looking ahead, CD Projekt Red is working on multiple expansions for Cyberpunk 2077, while a standalone multiplayer game is also in the works for later on.