Is Sony and Microsoft partly to blame?

December 16, 2020, 5:15 p.m.

No time right now?

Note: We have used commission links in this article and marked them with “*”. If an order is placed via these links, t3n.de receives a commission.

Cyberpunk 2077 is currently not doing well, especially on load consoles. Is Sony and Microsoft complicit in this? A developer says no and explains how the certification process works on game consoles.

The developer CD Projekt Red worked on the video game Cyberpunk 2077 for eight years. Unfortunately, it now shows that the manufacturer would have better put a little more time into the development. The game disappoints many gamers and the trade press, especially on Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Quite a few gamers also criticize Sony and Microsoft for this, because at least they could have prevented Cyberpunk 2077 from appearing on their respective consoles in its current state. But is this criticism justified? Rami Ismail, the director of the Gamedev World video game conference, says no.

In order for a game to appear on a console from Microsoft, Sony or even Nintendo, it must first go through a certification process. However, Ismail argues that this process is not designed to determine the fundamental quality of a game. “The certification does not mean that your game is free of graphical errors, free of performance problems, free of glitches, or that it works properly at all. Certification means that the game does not affect your console, your ability to use the console, or violate any rules or trademarks, ”explains Ismail

OK FULL STOP ON THE DISCOURSE PLEASE

Just to explain: Sony and Microsoft are -not- responsible for the state of Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 and Xbox. "Cert" isn't something that ensures games are 'good' - it ensures games do not brick it or disable critical functionality.

— Rami Ismail / رامي (@tha_rami) December 15, 2020

Ismail argues that successful certification should not ultimately represent a license for publication. Rather, it remains the task of the developer studio to hold back the game in the event of serious bugs that affect the flow of the game. Obviously, CD Projekt Red wanted to bring the game Cyberpunk 2077, which has been postponed again and again, to the market before Christmas 2020 – regardless of the existing problems. Instead, the manufacturer has now announced that it will submit patches for Playstation 4 and Xbox One by February 2021, which should deal with the biggest problems.

Xbox certification: Microsoft draws conclusions from the cyberpunk debacle

In the end, however, the cyberpunk debacle will apparently have an impact on the certification process – at least at Microsoft. Cyberpunkt 2077 contains elements that can potentially lead to epileptic seizures. However, there was no warning in the game. Microsoft has therefore announced that it will ensure that such elements are objected to when certifying future Xbox games.

Incidentally, CD Projekt Red does not seem to be entirely sure why Microsoft and Sony have certified their own game in its current state. CEO Adam Kiciński explains to investors: “I can only assume that they trusted that we would fix things by the time it was released, and that obviously didn’t work out as we planned.”

Also interesting: Cyberpunk 2077: Which technologies you should pay particular attention to

Most read