With less than a month left before launch, CD Projekt RED announced its upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077 would once again be delayed. The announcement certainly came as a surprise to say the least as the studio repeatedly denied further delays and the game officially achieved gold status only a few weeks prior. As it turned out, CDPR developers themselves were among those surprised by the delay, with many finding out on the same day as the company’s infamous yellow announcement.

While such a revelation would initially seem controversial – especially in the midst of studio crunch concerns – it appears the secrecy behind the delay wasn’t actually due to any devious circumstances. According to a new report by Game Informer, higher-ups at CDPR weren’t legally allowed to inform the team of over 1000 devs of the decision due to strict laws in its native Poland. As CD Projekt RED is a publically-traded company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Polish regulations prevent such market-altering information from being shared ahead of time as it could potentially open the door for illegal insider trading.

“In a nutshell, early, the unplanned release of this information could have potentially led to market abuse and manipulation of CD PROJEKT’s stock price on the WSE,” read an official CDPR statement with GI. “Therefore, due to the aforementioned regulations, the information on postponement of Cyberpunk 2077’s release date couldn’t have been shared with all of the Group’s employees before the current report was filed and made public.”

Game Informer’s report was collected by three unnamed developers and an official representative at CD Projekt RED, who revealed initial discussions regarding the Cyberpunk 2077 delay weren’t held until the day before the announcement took place. One source with the outlet alleges “about 90 percent of the studio” didn’t know the delay was happening and the sudden reveal inspired both “laughter and tears” from the passionate team.

Mixed emotions, laughing for excitement and because the randomness of the decision and tears because of it being delayed further. I hope to elaborate more soon but I won’t do anything without the developers feeling comfortable. (the devs, not as a company)

— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) October 28, 2020

The delay of a game as anticipated as Cyberpunk 2077 was always sure to ignite a fiery response online and the team expressed as much in the new report. However, it appears some decidedly toxic fans have also taken the news personally and have begun lashing out at members of the studio with threatening messages. Senior Designer on the project Andrzej Zawadzki recently addressed fans’ uproar in a post on Twitter, condemning the death threats as “unacceptable and just wrong” and expressing, “We are people, just like you.”

I want to address one thing in regards of the @CyberpunkGame delay.
I understand you’re feeling angry, disappointed and want to voice your opinion about it.
However, sending death threats to the developers is absolutely unacceptable and just wrong. We are people, just like you.

— Andrzej Zawadzki (@ZawAndy) October 27, 2020

Cyberpunk 2077 will now release for Google Stadia, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on December 10th, with next-gen versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S expected to follow in 2021.

What do you think? Are you upset by the delay of Cyberpunk 2077, or do you still have concerns regarding CD Projekt RED? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:

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