CD Projekt Red, the developer of the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077, has announced that consumers who buy the game on Xbox One will get the Xbox Series X version for free upon release. Over the years, CD Projekt Red has become one of the most respected game developers in the world, not only for its critically acclaimed The Witcher series of games, but for consumer-friendly business practices as well. Just last year, CD Projekt Red’s Krakow studio head John Mamais said that microtransactions are profit driven and come at the expense of consumer goodwill, which is a sentiment that garnered widespread support from gamers.
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Cyberpunk 2077 was originally slated for an April 2020 release, but has since been delayed to September 2020. One report from industry insider Borys Niespielak suggested that technical performance issues and current gen console limitations were largely to blame for the delay. Furthermore, Niespielak’s sources said that the worst of the issues were coming from the vanilla Xbox One, whose “extremely unsatisfactory” performance was bogging down the game’s development. Cyberpunk 2077 was first announced back in 2012, and in the eight years since, the game has grown exponentially in vision and scope. Naturally, this rapid expansion of features has caused many to wonder how the game will perform on outdated machines like the original PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
In a somewhat unexpected, yet altogether welcome turn of events, CD Projekt Red has shared the news that those who buy Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox One will get the Xbox Series X version for free via Twitter. In the tweet, CD Projekt Red quite unapologetically said that “gamers should never be forced to purchase the same game twice or pay for upgrades.” Twitter users were quick to heap praise on the developer too, with many citing this decision as not only a win for consumers but a step in the right direction for the gaming industry as well.
The official Xbox Twitter account responded to the announcement with a classic Cyberpunk 2077 GIF of Keanu Reeve’s captioned statement “You’re Breathtaking.” Keanu Reeves is one of the stars of Cyberpunk 2077, who reportedly loved playing the Johnny Silverhand character so much that he pushed CD Projekt Red for more screen time for him. Although Xbox users were thrilled with the news that they would get a free upgrade of Cyberpunk 2077, PlayStation gamers have been left to wonder whether or not they will get the same deal as well.
It’s clear that the business side of the gaming industry is in the midst of massive change, not only in terms of subscription services and game streaming, but in the fundamental sense of how consumers own games. Year after year, physical disc sales have gone down, with some analysts now projecting that the gaming industry will be 100% digital by 2022. It makes sense that gamers should be able to download a digital copy of a game they bought as it’s updated to a newer piece of hardware. With CD Projekt Red, it remains abundantly clear that the developer puts its money where itsmouth is in terms of consumer friendliness, as Xbox gamers will be able to play on Xbox One and Xbox Series X for the price of one purchase.
Cyberpunk 2077 is set to release on September 17, 2020 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia.
Source: Cyberpunk 2077/Twitter
