The most recent Cyberpunk 2077 delay was reportedly made to optimize the game for the many systems it is releasing on and around, but that realistic reason hasn’t stopped people from showing their worst colors. Impatient gamers have been sending death threats to members of the development team, harassing them as they close out one of the biggest games of the year.
Senior Game Designer Andrzej Zawadzki tweeted one of the particular threats he had received. It’s extreme, threatening not only him, but his family as well. And, according to Zawadzki, this was only one of the milder ones. He did not specify who else got some of the harmful messages, but did state that others got harassed, too. U.K. Head of Communication Hollie Bennet also shared her experiences with post-delay trolls, but did not go into detail. She did, however, say that the positive messages outweighed the negative ones.
This is one of the mildest messages some of us got. There were far, FAR worse. Every single one is being reported. We will not let it go through.
Do not treat it lightly. Do not ignore it. It is serious.
That said, I'm off TT for couple of days. Take care.#Cyberpunk2077 pic.twitter.com/Z80HHWADqU— Andrzej Zawadzki (@ZawAndy) October 28, 2020
This tweet came after his general tweet that followed the delay. In it, he spoke about how he understood the disappointment players were feeling, but asserted that the developers were also human and abuse like that of any kind is “absolutely unacceptable and just wrong.”
I want to address one thing in regards of the @CyberpunkGame delay.
I understand you're feeling angry, disappointed and want to voice your opinion about it.
However, sending death threats to the developers is absolutely unacceptable and just wrong. We are people, just like you.— Andrzej Zawadzki (@ZawAndy) October 27, 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 was originally set to release in April 16, 2020. That then slipped to September 17 before jumping to November 19 and then to December 10, its current and maybe final release date. These delays have come after long periods of crunch, which the team has taken flak for. Given the ongoing pandemic and imminent console launches, it’s not confirmed to hit that date, as its most recent push came only about three weeks before it was supposed to come out.
Despite that uncertainty, threats are never a good idea. It seems to be a reliable pattern for big games, like the kerfuffle around The Last of Us 2 near its controversial release that targeted its actors and creators.
