The most recent delay of Cyberpunk 2077 has been attributed to the versions being produced for the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. The long-awaited open world RPG was delayed only yesterday, in direct contradiction to numerous promises made by the developer, pushing it from a November release to December 10th.
Despite how brief the delay is, fans have become very upset over the broken promise from developer CD Projekt Red. Not long after the news broke, beleaguered game developers became the target of disgusting, onerous death threats. People, outraged over having to wait a few weeks more to play Cyberpunk 2077, told developers to release the game immediately or face any number of horrible, outrageous fates, including being burned alive. Major industry figures like Cory Barlog and Seamus Blackley came out recently in support of the devs, who had no say in the delay and can't really do anything to undo it.
PC Gamer has now reported on what is apparently the real reason for this new delay. The reasoning comes from a call to investors by CD Projekt Red co-CEO Adam Kiciński, who claims that the game as it stands is all but finished on PC and next-gen consoles, and could even ship on the original November release date on those systems. The current-gen versions, however, still need time to be optimized and fine-tuned. Kiciński did not cite any specific issues with the current-gen versions, merely a need to optimize and polish the current-gen experience. He was also unable to fully commit to December 10th being the final release date, stating that "We feel—maybe not comfortable, but confident" in the December launch. While this lack of certainty is concerning, it's certainly a safer alternative to the numerous broken promises the studio made about the original November date.
The delay took a lot of people by surprise, including, apparently, the developers themselves. Delays are always disappointing, and the internet reactions indicate that this development is no different. Kiciński's insistence that the PC and next-gen versions are still capable of hitting the original release date is interesting. There are a lot of fans who would probably prefer that those versions do release in November, so that only the current-gen players have to wait. There's no telling why the team delayed all versions at once; perhaps CD Projekt Red is less confident about the next-gen and PC versions than it's letting on.
A lot of fans have taken the game's delay in good humor, and that's definitely for the best. Cyberpunk 2077 has been a very long time coming, and having it pushed back even farther is demoralizing for the people who've been eagerly awaiting it for years. But it's important to have faith in the people working on the game and trust that any extra time they take to put this game together is for the best.
Source: PC Gamer