Cyberpunk 2077's Greatest Weakness is Elden Ring's Greatest Strength
Without question, Cyberpunk 2077 is having a rocky launch month. After a series of delays, the game finally launched and was received with such backlash that refunds are being issued for the console versions of the game. Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most anticipated games of this year, and after launching in a rough state, especially for last-gen consoles, fans have been left with a sour taste in their mouths that will likely be there for some time.
Elden Ring is another game that is being hyped up quite a bit by its community, but FromSoftware is approaching its highly anticipated title in a much different way than CD Projekt Red did with Cyberpunk 2077. At least for now, it seems to be working in its favor.
Elden Ring was first announced at E3 2019, but was rumored to be in development for some time. Whispers of a George R. R. Martin and FromSoftware collaboration kept making their rounds every time a major gaming event kicked off. As with most iconic FromSoftware games, Elden Ring is being directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki who is well-known for his work on the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. What makes Elden Ring so special is that popular A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin is working with FromSoftware on the world building for the game. Miyazaki has given Martin essentially free reign on building the backstory for the world that Elden Ring will take place in, and that thought has stirred up a lot of hype for the game.
Outside of the initial reveal trailer, virtually no news has been given about the game. The drought of information has even caused some fans to start making up their own lore for Elden Ring to pass the time until FromSoftware reveals more about it. FromSoftware has been radio silent about Elden Ring, which has unfortunately made the hype surrounding the game grow more and more. Every time a gaming event comes around, fans are quick to jump to forums to talk about if Elden Ring will be making an appearance and are left disappointed when it has once again not shown up. Despite being in development since 2017, FromSoftware is being especially tight-lipped when it comes to Elden Ring news, and in a way, this manages to keep expectations in check.
Cyberpunk 2077 was originally revealed in May 2012 and featured several trailers between the original announcement and the game's final release in December 2020. The game was initially slated to release on April 16, 2020, but was first delayed to September 17. 2020. After that, it was delayed until November 19, 2020, and finally once more to its final release date of December 10, 2020. Clearly, there are a lot of factors at play when it comes to managing a video game's release, but clearly something went awry when a lawsuit is being filed regarding the release of Cyberpunk 2077.
The intricacies of managing video game marketing while also dealing with investors is not something to be taken lightly, but as marketing for Cyberpunk 2077 continued to be showcased, fan expectations and hype continued to skyrocket. Once CD Projekt Red began showing off Cyberpunk 2077 in detail, fans began to develop the expectation that the game was going to revolutionize the RPG genre, similar to how The Witcher 3 did. This expectation was further exacerbated by the continual showing of vertical slices of Cyberpunk 2077.
Vertical slices of the game were shown off to highlight and focus specifically on certain aspects of the game, but the problem with vertical slices is that they only show off exactly what the developer wants to be shown off. They do not show how the game runs on different consoles or the various bugs that are present in a live game environment. This is arguably one of the biggest factors that let to Cyberpunk 2077's disastrous launch, and avoiding such issues is perhaps the reason that FromSoftware has been so silent regarding Elden Ring to this point.
A lot can be learned from the marketing and launch of Cyberpunk 2077. First and foremost, marketing plays a huge part in creating and managing fan expectation. With every new trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, fans continued to work themselves into a fervor waiting for the highly anticipated game to be released. But only a single trailer has been released for Elden Ring, and no other announcements or teases have been officially made. Sure, the hype for Elden Ring is still off the charts, but expectations have not been set because there isn't even gameplay out for the game yet. Reportedly, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has played Elden Ring a bit and had high praises for it, but outside of that, no real clues have been given as to what to even begin expecting from the game.
The second thing to really take away from the Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco is actually on the heads of the investors in the game. In a perfect world, games would not be announced until the developer feels that the games are in a good spot and delays are not likely. A big issue with Cyberpunk is that every delay only made fans expectations rise. The conversation about the game was rarely "the game isn't in a good spot to release" and rather "we need more time to make the game better" which, when looking at how the game launched, was not the correct way to frame those delays.
Obviously, investors and executives want pre-orders and sales, and pre-orders typically cannot happen without a release window, but the game's performance and stability should take priority ideally. FromSoftware has only recent reassured fans that Elden Ring is still in development, but again provided no details. So, FromSoftware is doing a fantastic job at keeping the fans in check and not letting the hype overwhelm the game or the studio—a lesson Cyberpunk 2077 and CD Projekt Red learned the hard way.
Elden Ring was announced to be in development for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. No release date has been announced.
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