It is not unnatural for CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 to be one of the first video games that comes to mind when the topic of disastrous initial launches is brought up in conversation. Marketed and hyped up to be a game-changing experience that players could immerse themselves in, the 2020 release was met with quite a bit of criticism from gamers, mainly because of just how unplayable the title actually was on last-gen consoles.
But CDPR is not the only game development studio that went through a lot of backlash because of a terrible launch, as Bethesda Game Studios has faced something similar with not one, but two of its relatively newer releases.
The Fallout Prequel Shares Some Similarities With Cyberpunk 2077
One of the most iconic works in Todd Howard’s directorial portfolio is undoubtedly The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which made a massive impact on the gaming industry, so on its 10th anniversary in 2021, the director went over to Reddit and had a candid conversation with the community.
Back then, it had only nearly been a year since Cyberpunk 2077 was released, so the controversial launch by CD Projekt Red was still fresh in gamers’ minds. Consequently, although the discussion that Howard prompted was supposed to revolve around The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and the highly anticipated Starfield, the question of how CDPR’s approach to releasing its supposed magnum opus affected Bethesda Game Studios’ “philosophy” was brought up.
Comment
byu/ToddBethesda from discussion
inIAmA
“We let people down,” wrote Todd Howard about the less-than-ideal launch of Fallout 76 three years prior to the post, stating that the team at Bethesda was “able to learn and be better from it.” Similar to how Phantom Liberty became the saving grace for CD Projekt Red, the Fallout prequel also received plenty of post-launch content and expansions to improve the overall experience.
Impressively, thanks to the Prime Video Fallout adaptation, the newly launched Skyline Valley DLC, and Howard taking community feedback seriously, Fallout 76 is going strong even in 2024.
Bethesda Game Studios Is Taking a Similar Approach With Starfield
Where Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to be CD Projekt Red’s greatest effort yet, Starfield was gearing up to be Bethesda Game Studios’ most ambitious video game ever, but unfortunately, the space action RPG was unable to deliver on every front.
“It’s made us much better developers in the end,” wrote Todd Howard about how much Bethesda has learned from the fate of Fallout 76, not knowing that two years later, history would somewhat repeat itself with a new release.
But the way their respective expansions and updates saved the Fallout prequel and Cyberpunk 2077, Howard’s space-themed adventure seems to be heading down the same path with the upcoming Shattered Space DLC.
All three titles have been transformed into much finer video games than they initially were, and it remains to be seen what impact Shattered Space will have once it launches later this year.
Do you think Starfield can successfully follow in the footsteps of the Fallout prequel and Cyberpunk 2077? Let us know in the comments!
