Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen update release date delay gets more likely

By Eric Abent/Sept. 2, 2021 10:43 am EST

Throughout the year so far, the folks at CD Projekt Red have been working to fix Cyberpunk 2077. Last year, the game launched in a buggy, broken state, prompting outrage from fans, particularly those playing on last-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While Cyberpunk 2077 has come a long way, this focus on shipping fixes and optimizations has delayed other aspects of Cyberpunk's post-launch roadmap, to the point where we may not be getting the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game this year.

Originally, CD Projekt Red planned to have next-gen versions of Cyberpunk 2077 out before we close the book on 2021. However, now the company is indicating that may not happen as planned. That's according to Video Games Chronicle, which transcribed key points from a call with investors in which CD Projekt SVP of business development Michał Nowakowski suggests that Cyberpunk may not make its way to PS5 and Xbox Series X before the year is out.

"The target is to release the next-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077 late this year," Nowakowski said. "At the same time, keeping in mind the lessons we have learned during the past year and taking into account that this project still remains in development, we can't say with full certainty that the production schedule will not change."

Nowakowski said something similar about The Witcher 3's next-gen port, noting that while the goal is to have that out in late 2021 as well, CD Projekt "cannot be absolutely dead certain that the release schedule will not change" while the update is still in development. With The Witcher 3's next-gen patch, CD Projekt has the help of Saber Interactive while it's working on the next-gen port for Cyberpunk 2077 in-house.

So, it seems that in this case, CD Projekt doesn't want to fully commit to late 2021 releases for these updates until it can be sure the updates will be well and truly finished by those dates. CD Projekt says that the goal is to still ship both updates later this year, so we'll see if that plan pans out. Stay tuned, and we'll update you when CD Projekt shares more about these next-gen updates.