THE Release Date Speculation thread. [Confirmed: 16.04.2020]

[Rawls]

Where was it stated that the game was in alpha during November? I had seen that it was in 'advanced development', but i didnt take that to specifically mean alpha.

Łukasz Kucharski (PAP): [F]ive months have passed since E3; in the meantime there has been a rumor that the Cyberpunk campaign is already playable in its entirety. Can you say anything about which elements of the game you’re working on right now, and tell us about the status of this work?

Adam Kiciński (CEO): We are fleshing out the game world. The comment regarding the game’s campaign, yes, it was true at the time it appeared, however not all of the game looked like the fragments showcased at E3 and gamescom; a large part was not quite as detailed. We are filling the world with content and tweaking things, and this involves a great deal of hard work on the part of developers. What I can say today is that we’re progressing fast and according to plan. When we finish, there’s also the hugely important phase of polishing all that game content. There was a question about the quality of the game we plan to deliver at launch and our intention is to deliver something of great quality. Once the game is complete, we can begin to patch various bugs, both major and minor, and we are setting aside time to complete this process.

https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/wp-con...projekt-group-teleconference-transcript-1.pdf

EDIT: They did not say "alpha" but it does clearly say that it isn't feature complete or onto polish stage ... which IMO clearly means that the game was still in alpha (or even pre-alpha) at that time. As stated below, in June 2018, CP2077 was confirmed to be still in pre-alpha.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

Where was it stated that the game was in alpha during November?

It was in pre-alpha at the end of june

That demo, however, could still be a lot earlier than people think, with CD Projekt Red Adam Kiciński describing it as "not even alpha yet."

https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/0...berpunk-2077-is-pre-alpha-could-be-years-away

 

[Sardukhar]

Alpha, Beta, pre-Alpha, Alpha-plus....terms which vary from studio to studio. And when used internally in a fairly precise sense and externally to press and finance. What developers understand vs what non-devs understand are different things.

Us old folks remember when you didn't play things in Beta - that was a pre-release stage.

Har de har har to that now.


Also, you can show something in the very latest stage of Alpha and then spend the next year in "beta".

Really doesn't mean a whole lot, especially as development is an organic process.

Investors...investors are happy as the stock goes up. We rest assured it will go up even more with release. Unless you're short-terming it, as an investor in CDPR over the last few years, you're pretty darn happy. That's not a pressure point for release.

 

[Rawls]

CD Projekt official investor calls confirm 2019 is the target.

He said fiscal Q4 2019 (which in his terms actually means Q1 2020). https://segmentnext.com/2018/12/19/cyberpunk-2077-release-polish-analysts/

In case you don’t know, Q4 of the fiscal year 2019 is different from calendar years. Q4 of the fiscal year 2019 will end in March of 2020 which means that Cyberpunk 2077 can release in the early months of 2020. Now, this period of time seems very ideal for the release.

 

[Skirlasvoud]

We're just going to have to hold our breeches for a release date reveal at E3 2019. Just 18 days to go...

All this uncertain excitement is tearing this community apart CDPR!

 

[Mrtowel420]

https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/wp-con...projekt-group-teleconference-transcript-1.pdf

EDIT: They did not say "alpha" but it does clearly say that it isn't feature complete or onto polish stage ... which IMO clearly means that the game was still in alpha (or even pre-alpha) at that time. As stated below, in June 2018, CP2077 was confirmed to be still in pre-alpha.

The demo build was confirmed pre alpha, but the demo build was not new when they showed it.

Absolutely, i know the game had side content being added for a while after the demo. But that would seem to me to align with a late 2019 release. But i outlined most reasons for that in my last post.

 

[Garrison72]

I'm not trusting leaks, no matter how many, over their release practices of the past.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

We're just going to have to hold our breeches for a release date reveal at E3 2019. Just 18 days to go...

All this uncertain excitement is tearing this community apart CDPR!

*16 days to June 9th.

Don't make it longer than it is already!

 

[Sild]

He said fiscal Q4 2019 (which in his terms actually means Q1 2020). https://segmentnext.com/2018/12/19/cyberpunk-2077-release-polish-analysts/

I think this could very well be an error on part of the article author. CDPR's fiscal year = CDPR's calendar year. Now i don't know which fiscal year model the analyst predicted in, but it stands within reason he would use the same model as the company he predicted about uses, which would place it at December 2019 at the latest.

 

[Rawls]

CDPR's fiscal year = CDPR's calendar year.

It's not CDPRs fiscal year, but the financial analysts if I understand it correctly. You are correct that CDPRs calendar follows the regular one.

 

[Sild]

It's not CDPRs fiscal year, but the financial analysts if I understand it correctly. You are correct that CDPRs calendar follows the regular one.

Not sure if financial analysts have fiscal years. I mean, that's a "company" thing, plus the dude is polish, the article author probably didn't have any kind of dialogue with him and just introduced that sentence there cause it's how some (most?) companies organize their financials.

 

[IndifferentEmpathy]

Alpha, Beta, pre-Alpha, Alpha-plus....terms which vary from studio to studio. And when used internally in a fairly precise sense and externally to press and finance. What developers understand vs what non-devs understand are different things.

Problem with these terms is that they try to approximate where incomplete product is when it consists of multiple systems that can be in different stages of maturity.

It is hard to know what takes more time from outside. I keep thinking about Dragon Age 2, which was rushed in a year, and had finished combat system and plenty of quests with cut-scenes and such, but relied so much on content reuse. If CP2077 only lacked content last year then it should be in quite good shape now since content is unlikely to cause unexpected delays.

Game-play systems can, but most of these seemed to be OK. Except hacking, which looked way too ambitious in previous demo - I would be surprised if its not simplified now.

 

[Mrtowel420]

He said fiscal Q4 2019 (which in his terms actually means Q1 2020). https://segmentnext.com/2018/12/19/cyberpunk-2077-release-polish-analysts/

I was under the impression Q4 of 2019 included the very latter part of 2019 and the earliest part of 2020.

At any rate, everything i posted still stands. I've been intimating a late 2019-early 2020 release all the while.

Post automatically merged: May 25, 2019

It was in pre-alpha at the end of june



https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/0...berpunk-2077-is-pre-alpha-could-be-years-away

The demo build was pre alpha, absolutely, but this wasnt brand new by the time it was shown.

I dont see anything to confirm that the game was in alpha as of November, but that would seem to align with a late 2019 early 2020 release anyway.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

I dont see anything to confirm that the game was in alpha as of November, but that would seem to align with a late 2019 early 2020 release anyway.

Alpha started in september when they said that main campaign (not all game) was "somehow playable" and they "reached an important milestone", which means alpha. Anyway, is it really important? 15 days and we'll know.

 

[AsadaShino0821]

I have a hunch that E3 will not announce the release date this year. (( Sorry, I can't speak English.))

Because there is a closed-door gameplay, it should be to show the media how to react and the shortcomings of the current game, and to improve and modify it, which is equivalent to not completing CY2077.

According to the CDPR, the release date will not be announced when it is completed, so it is not completed now.

 

[Agient]

I have a hunch that E3 will not announce the release date this year. (( Sorry, I can't speak English.))

Because there is a closed-door gameplay, it should be to show the media how to react and the shortcomings of the current game, and to improve and modify it, which is equivalent to not completing CY2077.

According to the CDPR, the release date will not be announced when it is completed, so it is not completed now.

There's an open presentation for public, also. And while it was confirmed that the two will vary, I think the closed one will just be more detailed, for Youtubers and other influencers, to be their 'free marketing' tool again. I mean, you do want to keep the majority of fans in the dark a little bit (or a lot?) and not show all your cards at once.

And besides, the showings of gameplay will be held on E3 floors. It is widely speculated that the official trailer and release date will be shown prior to this, on MS stage, Sunday 9th. That would make the most sense to me and would coincide with how it was revealed last year (minus the public booth). A punchy trailer and RD on Sunday, more gameplay for public (and detailed gameplay for media) in the following days.

 

[Metropolice]

Recent news?

I was basically looking at a bunch of German news (who were referring to interviews and whatnot) basically coming to the conclusion that a release this year, for example due to lack of demo or freely available demo to journalists at E3 and whatnot, would be rather unlikely, with something at Q1 or Q2 2020 being more viable than Q4 2019. Freely available demo as in journalists being able to freely play opposed to perhaps seeing a video or having devs play. That was one of the aspects stated in the article, I think.

I'd have to look it up again. Checking news superficially just now, they at this time do not even seem to be inclined to confirm that they will give a release date at E3 for the game. Leads me to believe or assume two things:

1) If it was rather far into finalization and finishing touches, wouldn't you tout you are ready to state a release date with confidence at E3?
2) Maybe the hush hush is still intentional at this time to result in an even bigger surprise factor or impact level at E3 when they reveal it


What I usually do is enter "Cyberpunk 2077" into google and then check the news tab. That quickly gets me useful references.

 

[Snowflakez]

I was basically looking at a bunch of German news (who were referring to interviews and whatnot) basically coming to the conclusion that a release this year, for example due to lack of demo or freely available demo to journalists at E3 and whatnot, would be rather unlikely, with something at Q1 or Q2 2020 being more viable than Q4 2019. Freely available demo as in journalists being able to freely play opposed to perhaps seeing a video or having devs play. That was one of the aspects stated in the article, I think.

I'd have to look it up again. Checking news superficially just now, they at this time do not even seem to be inclined to confirm that they will give a release date at E3 for the game. Leads me to believe or assume two things:

1) If it was rather far into finalization and finishing touches, wouldn't you tout you are ready to state a release date with confidence at E3?
2) Maybe the hush hush is still intentional at this time to result in an even bigger surprise factor or impact level at E3 when they reveal it


What I usually do is enter "Cyberpunk 2077" into google and then check the news tab. That quickly gets me useful references.

The trouble with news surrounding this game is that many outlets don't actually research. It's hearsay, and speculation, which gets spread as fact.

That's why some people have mistakenly claimed the game is "confirmed to come out in 2019" because CDPR said something about Q4 2019 in a financial call. If these writers had researched, they'd quickly realize that financial years are different than regular years.

Furthermore, it's a mistake to assume a lack of a freely playable demo means the game isn't close to completion. Speaking to others here, they said the TW3 demo wasn't playable by press until a couple months before launch. I believe the same was true of RDR2, and likely other games as well.

 

[sv3672]

That's why some people have mistakenly claimed the game is "confirmed to come out in 2019" because CDPR said something about Q4 2019 in a financial call.

If I remember right, the Q4 of fiscal year 2019 prediction is by Polish analysts, rather than something officially announced by CDPR.

 

[Shavod]

Furthermore, it's a mistake to assume a lack of a freely playable demo means the game isn't close to completion. Speaking to others here, they said the TW3 demo wasn't playable by press until a couple months before launch. I believe the same was true of RDR2, and likely other games as well.

The fact that they just announced they are not going to expand Cyberpunk 2077 team anymore outside of QA branch might indeed indicate that they are entering the final parts of development, which is balancing and polishing of what's already in the game. My guess is that the main story, major sidequests, the world and gameplay systems are all implemented by now, so all that's left, outside of tweaks and balancing, is filling the world with a smaller side activites and sidequests, which still takes time, but one that is counted in months, rather then years.