Their images are fine. Again, there’s a gargantuan disconnect between the hardcore gamers who populate message boards and the general public. We think we are more important than we actually are. Most people who bought Cyberpunk have no idea about all of this controversy. And plenty of others, myself included, know about it and don’t care, because the game has been great for us. And then there are still more who have such goodwill built up with CDPR, one blundered launch isn’t going to ruin it. 

One Blundered launch is the understatement of the millenia. This "one blundered launch" is equal to enough drama for a decade or 2 for many companies. CDPR will be fine financially but underselling the disaster that is Cyberpunk 2077 isn't the way to go. They are just another 3rd party company now so their image is damaged enough that it will take at least a decade to recover. They aren't in their own class anymore,

It’s not an understatement at all. Certainly not in comparison to the hyperbole going the other way. “Just another third party company now” and “at least a decade to recover”... nah. Again, we have plenty of evidence of other games that show otherwise. 

Sure, there will be a small patch of gamers unable to move on and continuing to hold a grudge. But it won’t matter, because most won’t give a shit about it.

I hope things get almost as bad as possible. I still am fine with CDPR being a big developer in the game industry - but an example needs to be made of the AAA industry. And no, I don't really care that the game in it's current state is "good enough" for some people. It's fine if you're enjoying the game, but that's no excuse to defend a company for incompetency.

For many people it’s not that it’s “good enough” it’s that it’s “great”. Saying it’s “good enough” implies there are issues but you can look past them. I’m playing on Series X and I haven’t had a single issue outside of random freezing in the first couple hours of the game that would last for four or five seconds. Sucks for anyone who has experienced game breaking issues or bugs but I haven’t seen a single one. That’s not me “defending incompetency”, that’s just factual.

Also, regarding an example being made out of... that just goes to show what a fad this outrage is. Cyberpunk came out in December. Not even a month prior to its release we had Cold War. A game with a stupidly gigantic install size because the dev forces you to also download their F2P battle royale game, even if you have no intention of ever playing it. A mode loaded to the brim with monetization. So it’s like 150GB+ on my Xbox last I saw. The SP launched very glitchy and buggy and on Series X it had (or maybe still has, idk) a stability issue where it would crash and could brick your system. So I stopped playing it altogether after four hard crashes. Since they they’ve updated the MP with all sorts of monetization garbage.

Oh, and it costs $10 extra for next gen. If any game should be made an “example of”, it should be CoD as it actually represents virtually everything wrong in the industry and is from a publisher with a long, deep history of fucking over consumers. Basically the exact opposite of CDPR :)

All of the cosmetics in non-MTX games are free.

I never said that developers used to include hundreds of free skins in their games.

Skins cost next to nothing to make, compared to the insane amounts of money that they bring in. Many skins are just a quick texture swap. The idea that skins take a long time to develop is a myth that needs to die.

Grind exists in more than just mobile games. Shadow of Mordor had grind for the sole sake of offering MTX as a "Solution". Gears 5 makes it take forever to earn enough iron to get a skin you want by playing. Fortnite and Fallguys both push you to pay money for skins that take too long to earn in game.

But anyway, I'm just kind of surprised that people are all up in arms about an unfinished game, when MTX are far worse. Eventually an unfinished game will get a patch. A MTX infested game will only get more MTX.

Sorry I have to object to quite a few of these things. One, there will always be fanboys defending a company no matter what shitty thing they do and that includes CDPR, Ninty, Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, etc. Two, the developers have to be commended for still working hard to fix their game. It's not their fault. Hell they are one of the victims of the management or lack thereof because they were forced to crunch and had to suffer an onslaught of people calling out their game when they worked so hard on it and some even wrongfully turned their anger towards the developers. 

Third, Fallout 76 is essentially being handed out like candy so being on the list of bestsellers is not really an achievement. The game still sucks. Fourth, I said they would be fine financially and you reiterated that point for me by comparing it to No Man's Sky.

But with all that said, the mystique is still gone for the international gaming community as a whole. If you tell me that CDPR are still as revered as they were a few months back, I'll call you out on lying. And if you tell me that CDPR will be as revered 3-5 years down the line as they were a few months back, I'm not gonna believe you one bit. Just like with Bethesda after Fallout 76, they will be the butt of many jokes and they will have everyone point to Cyberpunk 2077 when they try to overhype their new games for quite a long while. 

Let's recap what they did though. They lied to the gamers, investors, console makers and even their own developers. Their new game got pulled out of Sony's hardware even though much worse games have never been pulled out. There are lawsuits against them. Their game is being sent back. Most of the jnternational gaming community is angry with them. Very few companies have that much drama in a decade, let alone one game launch. I don't see how they can be as revered as they were a few months back for quite some time. So that basically makes them just another third party developer instead of being in a league of their own.

Pretty much the defacto to expect at this point.

Like with EGS exclusivity, it's hated at the start, people make their threats, but as soon as a year passes, gotta have that sweet crack, and they buy it (not me, because I've got the will to stick to my word). Same goes for recent 2077 reviews, ppl on Steam defending the broken mess, all because "I don't have any problems", or people with such a low IQ, that they enjoy the absolute bare basic mechanics of the game to let all the crap and dead AI pass.

I don't want to sound like the old man on the porch, but holy hell are the younger gens letting a shit ton of crap pass right through the gate, from MT's to early access to broken games and shoddy port jobs (especially on PC). This is mostly why I've been feeling jaded with gaming over the past 7 years, because it feels like it's been losing quality and innovation, all for faster delivery of broken messes and lesser content. 

It's why I fully expect games to look nice in some areas going forward, but for a lot of other games to just focus on the odd gimmick that wow's the casual crowd into buying the game, with Ai once again remaining largely unaltered from 10-15years ago, along with added MT's. Gaming just feels like it's getting watered down over the years, imo.

People have Stockholm syndrome with AAA devs. They raise a big stink then AAA dev throws them a piece of candy and they forgive and buy the next big broken product after mad hype and the cycle repeats. I don't just have issue with AAA devs but people enabling this bullshit.