CD Projekt delays Cyberpunk 2077 and suddenly the spring looks pretty quiet

Not all that long ago, the spring of 2020 seemed like a golden age of wonders. We complained there would be too many games—Watch Dogs Legion, Dying Light 2, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, Baldur’s Gate III, and the crown jewel Cyberpunk 2077.

Now uh...maybe none of them will release in the spring. Most were already delayed or simply absent, i.e. we haven’t heard word of Baldur’s Gate III since the Google Stadia event announcing it last June. But today CD Projekt announced Cyberpunk 2077 is delayed to September 17, where it will join Watch Dogs Legion and Bloodlines 2.

From CD Projekt’s statement:

“We are currently at a stage where the game is complete and playable, but there’s still work to be done. Night City is massive—full of stories, content, and places to visit, but due to the sheer scale and complexity of it all, we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing, and polishing. We want Cyberpunk 2077 to be our crowning achievement for this generation and postponing launch will give us the precious months we need to make the game perfect.”

That all seems perfectly reasonable, and y’know, cue that Miyamoto quote about delayed games. We’ve been through this a hundred times, and I certainly didn’t expect Cyberpunk 2077 to release without at least one blown release date. On the other hand, I hoped April was locked in, because suddenly the spring is looking pretty damn barren—and the back half of the year packed. With new consoles due to arrive in November, having Bloodlines 2, Watch Dogs, Cyberpunk, and maybe more as an appetizer feels like both an embarrassment of riches and absolutely exhausting.

But hey, Doom Eternal is still releasing in March. Small miracles.