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I think one of the greatest takeaways from Cyberpunk's release is actually something I teach my students; the audience you cater to is the audience that responds to you.
CDPR as quite happy to alienate people who had empathy towards transgender people, people of colour, people who support workers rights, etc. They were happy to be performative in their inclusivity or their support.
They were happy to cater to the edgelord gamers whose toxicity flourished in response to their actions, or happily dismissed and ignored the problematic representations and workplace environment.
So when Cyberpunk crashed and burned in various ways in release, the people that would have empathetically supported them had already been driven away. They hadn't bought the game. What were they left with? Well.
If you cater to the toxicity of your audience, and alienate anything empathetic or wholesome, you really shouldn't be surprised when the toxicity is all you are greeted with.
My heart absolutely, absolutely breaks for the devs and QA people that poured their heart and soul into Cyberpunk for nearly a decade, perhaps longer. But for the executive decision-makers... I have nothing but a shrug.
There's an unexpected reception to my half-formed food-coma thoughts. Hm.
Interesting people are focusing on the LGBTQ concepts, which was mentioned in the same sentence as worker treatment and never again. The point of this musing was the demonstration of empathy, friends. That's all.
