We know the narrative: Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to be one of the biggest games of the year but it was brought low a buggy, brutal launch on Xbox One and PS4 that it intentionally hid from reviewers, ruining years worth of goodwill in moments. It’s a convenient narrative, with a hint of truth, but it elides a certain important fact: CD Projekt Red just told investors that the game has sold-through an estimated 13 million copies from December 10-20, making it, quite possibly, the biggest game this year.
This is after Sony removed the game from PSN and after both PlayStation and Xbox, along with GameStop and Best Buy, offered full refunds on the broken title. While there are certainly lost, hypothetical sales in there, the numbers are still impressive, especially when you consider that the company said it was able to recoup its substantial development and marketing costs off of 8 million pre-orders.
This game was just too big to fail.
Clearly, a huge chunk of this is those 8 million pre-orders, sold off the back of The Witcher 3’s success and CD Projekt Red’s year’s of hype, as well as it’s ability to cultivate rabid fanbase through genuinely pro-consumer moves with a dose of edgelord, anti-SJW marketing. But we’re also seeing big sales after the fact as well, driven by the momentum of that marketing, the actually-functional PC version and the idea that it’s going to work, at least at some point.
Then there are those people that could get a refund but aren’t doing it, which is honestly an easy position to understand. They’ve already spent the $60, they want to play the game, and if CD Projekt Red manages to fix it they would probably just buy it again anyways. It’s the same reason I probably have several hundred dollars worth of mail-in rebates that I will never see, despite it being free money.
And that’s right now. The game will likely see a sales boost once the big patches come out, and then another one once the game actually releases versions of Xbox Series X and PS5. Unlock other flops like Anthem (which ran a whole lot better), Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t need to maintain an active community or content pipeline to prove it’s not a “dead game”. It’s complete, you can buy it, you can play it. This helps a lot when it comes to 6 months down the line.
I think what we see here is the colossal power of hype, expertly wielded by CD Projekt Red in the years before release. It becomes powerful enough that people form a sort of temporary identity around a game that hasn’t even been released and at that point, there’s really no going back. It gave the game reach matched only by very few, and now, warts and all, it’s probably the most visible single-player game on the planet this side of GTA.
For those people that got caught up in the hype, it becomes self-fulfilling: to accept that it was just smoke and mirrors requires that you give up that feeling of genuine excitement you experienced for months, or years, a rare and valuable thing that you might rather hold on to. It also becomes self-fulfilling in a bigger sense, based on pure exposure. My dad texted me about Cyberpunk 2077: that’s how far it goes.
So what’s the upshot? CD Projekt Red will struggle with its next major title…maybe. If the company can pull fire off some free DLC, execute a smooth release for some larger pieces of content along the lines of Witcher 3’sHearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, and maybe—this one is a question mark—make a non-broken multiplayer version, then I have to imagine the market at large will move on from this failure and focus on the parts of the game they like. I don’t think we’ll see 8 million pre-orders again, but who’s to say?
Cyberpunk 2077 is a massive success. It is a massive success despite being buggy and weird in the best of circumstances and outright broken in the worst of circumstances. Because that’s how the hype machine rolls, and that’s how a AAA ecosystem hyper-fixated on a small number of major blockbusters operates. I am not sure we will ever see an example quite as stark as this for a while, but there are more minor ones every year.
MONTREAL – Lightspeed Commerce Inc. says it is conducting a review of its business and operations including talks relating to a range of potential strategic alternatives.
The Montreal-based payments technology company made the comments after reports concerning a potential transaction involving the company.
Lightspeed says it periodically undertakes a review of its business and operations with a view of realizing its full potential.
A strategic review is often seen by investors as a prelude to a sale by a company.
Lightspeed says its board of directors is committed to acting in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.
Company founder Dax Dasilva returned to the role of chief executive officer earlier this year and has been working to return the company to profitability.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
OTTAWA – Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says there is a lot of uncertainty around how artificial intelligence could affect the economy moving forward, including the labour market and price growth.
In a speech in Toronto at the Economics of Artificial Intelligence Conference, the governor said Friday that the central bank is approaching the issue cautiously to get a better understanding of how AI could affect its job of keeping inflation low and stable.
“Be wary of anyone who claims to know where AI will take us. There is too much uncertainty to be confident,” Macklem said in prepared remarks.
“We don’t know how quickly AI will continue to advance. And we don’t know the timing and extent of its economic and social impacts.”
The governor said AI has the potential of increasing labour productivity, which would raise living standards and grow the economy without boosting inflation.
In the short-term, he said investment in AI is adding to demand and could be inflationary.
However, Macklem also highlighted more pessimistic scenarios, where AI could destroy more jobs than it creates or lead to less competition rather than more.
The governor called on academics and businesses to work together to shed more light on the potential effects of AI on the economy.
“When you enter a dark room, you don’t go charging in. You cautiously feel your way around. And you try to find the light switch. That is what we are doing. What we central bankers need is more light,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.
CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines has struck a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to offer satellite-based Starlink WiFi service on flights within the next several years.
The airline said Friday the service will be free to passengers.
United said it will begin testing the service early next year and begin offering it on some flights by later in 2025.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The announcement comes as airlines rush to offer more amenities as a way to stand out when passengers pick a carrier for a trip. United’s goal is to make sitting on a plane pretty much like being on the ground when it comes to browsing the internet, streaming entertainment and playing games.
“Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do on board a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world,” CEO Scott Kirby said in announcing the deal.
The airline says Starlink will allow passengers to get internet access even over oceans and polar regions where traditional cell or Wi-Fi signals may be weak or missing.
