Waiting for a patched version of "Cyberpunk 2077" to take advantage of the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X is not likely to happen anytime soon

This is because Michał Nowakowski, senior vice president of business development at CD Projekt, told shareholders during the company's earnings call for the first half of 2021 that the company has learned not to guarantee such things So it is not surprising that the company is not certain that its planned next-generation console update will meet its 2021 goals

"Our goal is to release a next-generation console version of 'Cyberpunk 2077' later this year," Nowakowski said, as transcribed by Videogame Chronicles

"At the same time, keeping in mind the lessons learned over the past year and the fact that this project is still in development, we cannot be completely certain that the production schedule will not change

The possible delay does not appear to be due to a shortage of staff working on the title The company confirmed that just over a third of its staff is working on upgrading to next-generation consoles and patching current platforms The rest are working on DLC for the game, Gwent, and other top-secret projects

Interestingly, the next-generation update for The Witcher 3 is a similar story in terms of potential delays, despite being "primarily" outsourced to another studio: Sabre Interactive, the same company responsible for the impressive Nintendo Switch port As with [Cyberpunk 2077], our goal is to release it in late 2021 But likewise, the development process is ongoing, and we can't absolutely guarantee that the release schedule won't change But for now, we are definitely aiming for late 2021 for both titles, and I don't want to be more specific at this point"

CD Projekt has been developing Cyberpunk 2077 since its buggy release last December and has patched it heavily several times; in June, the company announced that stability had reached a "satisfactory level" And indeed, this proved satisfactory enough for Sony to withdraw the game from its shameful removal six months earlier and return it to the PlayStation store

The latest patch offers bug fixes, performance enhancements, stability improvements, and even rudimentary DLC such as a couple of jackets, alternate NPC looks, and cars But as our senior editor, Marshall Onoroff, says, it may be too little and too late for existing platforms

Upgrades for next-gen consoles might work better if there is still a shortage of next-gen-specific games when they emerge from development Even more reason for the company to move heaven and earth to complete the work this year