Testing video games isn’t just something that “needs to be done” by certain developers or publishers of games; it’s something that HAS to be done, or else video games will be a mess at launch. You know, not that we’ve seen that kind of thing repeatedly across numerous AAA developers over the last several years… Anyway, CD Projekt Red is in an interesting position right now, as they have multiple games coming up, and they need to ensure that they’re all functional right at launch. To that end, on its official FAQ page, it revealed that, for the first time, the playtesting program they use is available for people in the United States. They noted:
“Right now we’re holding playtests at our studio in Warsaw, and occasionally in Boston and Vancouver.”
You can sign up for the playtest via the link above, and here’s a further breakdown of what you’ll be doing in it:
“It gives participants the unique opportunity to influence the development of CD Projekt Red’s games by sharing their feedback on everything from gameplay mechanics and storytelling to character development and artistic direction, and they are able to do so from very early stages of the production process.”
This is encouraging to hear on multiple levels. First, as noted, they have multiple titles coming up across two different franchises, so they need all the help they can get to ensure that things are quality and not a mess like a certain launch the company did. Second, it’s always good to hear feedback from actual gamers who have no true connections to the company, as they might see something that the dev team missed due to the development crew looking at the same thing many times over. Plus, since this is happening with the “early stages” of production, they might be able to stop certain bad ideas from getting out of hand.
Focusing on the big faux pas that the team did in recent times, they spent an ungodly amount of time creating Cyberpunk 2077, only for it to be one of the buggiest releases in modern gaming history. People were refunding the game so fast that it caused the company’s tank to stock and faith in them to dwindle. Yes, they did turn it around, especially with some help from a hit Netflix anime set in the game’s world, and the DLC helped, too, but it was a long road to get there.
If this program helps remove the chance of this happening again, we should all be grateful for it.
