Warning: This GYGO contains discussion of death threats and other gross behaviors from entitled people at all levels of power within the gaming community.
Cyberpunk 2077 Delayed Again
So, Cyberpunk 2077 got delayed again, this time for three weeks, pushing release back from Nov. 19th to Dec. 10th.
We have important news to share with you pic.twitter.com/qZUaD6IwmM
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) October 27, 2020
This move, while undoubtedly necessary to ensure peak performance across the 1.5 million platforms this game is supposed to be playable on, has had far-reaching ramifications for the game and the community, and dominated the news cycle this week for better or worse. Well, definitely mostly for worse.
Developers CD Projekt Red were already under fire for going back on a previous promise of no crunch, and this most recent delay does not appear to mean employees will be getting a reprieve. In fact, Jason Schreier reported on comments from co-CEO Adam Kicinski that crunch was “not that bad” that he later apologized to employees for:
Here's CD Projekt Red co-CEO Adam Kiciński talking to investors about crunch yesterday (left) and him apologizing to his employees for those comments today in an email obtained by Bloomberg News (right). Quite a turnaround pic.twitter.com/YaYNtPDphY
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 29, 2020
This negative press was accompanied by white-hot gamer rage, but these gamers weren’t mad about poor working conditions. Rather, they took to the internet and sent death threats to developers like Andrzej Zawadzki demanding the game be released. Zawadzki posted about it on Twitter, but it’s been linked instead of copied here because, well, death threats.
The delay also has had material repercussions for CDPR, with stock dropping as they get more and more negative press:
CD Projekt Red's share price fell 25% amid news of mandatory crunch and another Cyberpunk 2077 delay https://t.co/na0oOG3djh pic.twitter.com/qGNdrDAftp
— PC Gamer (@pcgamer) October 31, 2020
Finally, this delay officially pushes Cyberpunk out of consideration for any major awards in 2020, since it will be released too late in the year:
Much like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a few years ago, Cyberpunk 2077 will first be eligible at next year’s Game Awards. https://t.co/1gV1J4sDpV
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) October 27, 2020
It remains to be seen if being considered for 2021 awards a full year after its release will damage the game’s chances at earning coveted GOTYs.
But Enough About Cyberpunk
In other gaming news this week, another delay was announced, this time for the crank-based handheld device the Playdate:
Friends, it's time for a Playdate Update.
SUMMARY: a rough year, a small delay, but lots of good! Orders should now be starting in early 2021, our "season one" of games now has even more games than we planned, and mass production is starting.
Read: https://t.co/lyoZ5Rd5Sg
— Playdate (@playdate) October 30, 2020
Orders are now scheduled for early next year and they’re promising an exciting game lineup, which is saying something from the people who published Untitled Goose Game and Firewatch.
Also, PlayStation announced the new PS Plus games for November, including a delightful surprise for those few lucky enough to snag a PS5 pre-order:
Starting Tuesday, PS Plus members can download Middle-earth: Shadow of War and Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition for PS4: https://t.co/fYQeDxYslr
Plus, a bonus PS5 game in November… pic.twitter.com/NqsMTi1AIZ
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) October 28, 2020
Dropping what will undoubtedly be GOTY for free is a bold move, but we’ll see how this goes for Sony and Bugsnax.

Emma is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Composition who studies how play impacts learning. Her words have also appeared in Critical Distance and Unwinnable. When not writing, she enjoys passing the controller between friends for runs of Silent Hill. She can be found @kostopolus on Twitter.
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