There was a shortage of review copies for Cyberpunk 2077

Review codes for Cyberpunk 2077 appear to have been very limited, and many medium to small-sized outlets may be experiencing the game alongside the public.

Ryan Brown, who works in PR at at Super Rare Game, tweeted out about the issue a few days ago on December 4. He stated in the tweet, "Press still do not have review copies of Cyberpunk 2077, a game that launches next week and touts itself as being 100+ hrs. Perhaps do not expect reviews for launch." The tweet itself started a conversation and some investigation into the problem.

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Limited review copies for Cyberpunk 2077

Following the initial tweet from Ryan Brown, he replied saying, "Okay - a few press folk have privately let me know that some DO already have review units of Cyberpunk 2077. A lot of major outlets are still waiting though, which is... odd!"

Okay - a few press folk have privately let me know that some DO already have review units of CYberpunk 2077.A lot of major outlets are still waiting though, which is... odd!

— Ryan Brown 🎮 (@Toadsanime) December 4, 2020

Many replies from the two tweets seem to corroborate the story. After some digging, it appears that access to review copies for Cyberpunk 2077 was given out on a case by case basis.

CD Projekt Red may have been deciding internally who would receive early review codes for the game. The process means that many smaller outlets will have to wait until somewhere near launch day to begin their reviews.

Not only were major outlets really the only places to receive review codes for the game, but they may have received their codes far later than many would imagine.

That margin of time might be somewhere around a week or slightly more before launch. Reviewers would then only have about a week to review the game that has over 100 hours of in game content to play.

The reason for the shortage and secrecy was revealed today when so many reviewers gave their opinions. Cyberpunk 2077 is still buggy and CD Projekt Red has been cutting it incredibly close to launch with the release of the game. Due to Cyberpunk 2077 cutting it so close, there was likely a shortage of codes for outlets that needed to be given out in a limited and quick fashion.

Of course, review codes not being released caused some users to assume that CD Projekt Red was hiding something about Cyberpunk 2077. However, even Ryan Brown was claiming that the reasons aren't nefarious and are likely centered around how close launch is with so much work to do in the game.

For anyone that hasn't received a review code, there's going to be a lot of time to make up.