"We are people, just like you" says Cyberpunk 2077 dev in response to death threats

Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed once again yesterday, and although the game's release was only pushed back by 21 days, it seems that was enough to stir up some nasty corners of the internet. Senior game designer Andrzej Zawadzki took to Twitter to report that members of the dev team have received death threats in response to the news, and reminded angry fans this was not acceptable behaviour.

"I understand you're feeling angry, disappointed and want to voice your opinion about it," Zawadzki said last night. "However, sending death threats to the developers is absolutely unacceptable and just wrong. We are people, just like you."

The backlash is not only related to the delay itself, but from a perception CD Projekt Red "lied" about staying on schedule, with many pointing to a specific tweet from the Cyberpunk 2077 account on 26th October promising no further delays. CD Projekt Red staff member Fabian Mario Döhla addressed this in the replies to Zawadzki's tweet, explaining that the social media manager would not have known about the delay (seemingly confirming a report CD Projekt Red staff heard the news at the same time as everyone else).

"Thing is: we are a public traded company and it's almost impossible to tell every employee beforehand, mainly because of legal reasons," Döhla said. "I'm aware of this (and used to it) but it can be super confusing for external people. Long story short: CP Twitter (and therefore our studio - as it's an official channel) did not lie on purpose."

The latest delay is the third change to Cyberpunk 2077's release date this year, having initially been scheduled for release in April before being pushed back to 17th September, and then 19th November. It's now due to release on 10th December, with CD Projekt Red explaining the delay is required to ensure Cyberpunk runs well on all platforms, since the game has "evolved towards almost being a next-gen title somewhere along the way". The improvements are due to be rolled out in a launch day patch, as the amount of time required to make them was "undercalculated".

The announcement post for the delay did not address what this would mean for members of the development team, who have already been working mandatory six-day weeks since September.