Polish Video Game Maker CD Projekt Focuses on Fixing Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt is focusing on improving Cyberpunk 2077 and restoring the trust of players and partners disappointed with its flagship game. (Reuters)
CD Projekt is focusing on improving Cyberpunk 2077 and restoring the trust of players and partners disappointed with its flagship game. (Reuters)
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Polish Video Game Maker CD Projekt Focuses on Fixing Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt is focusing on improving Cyberpunk 2077 and restoring the trust of players and partners disappointed with its flagship game. (Reuters)
CD Projekt is focusing on improving Cyberpunk 2077 and restoring the trust of players and partners disappointed with its flagship game. (Reuters)

Polish video game maker CD Projekt is focusing on improving Cyberpunk 2077 and restoring the trust of players and partners disappointed with its flagship game, Puls Biznesu daily reported the group’s CEO as saying.

Shares in the company, one of Polish biggest, slumped at the end of last year amid complaints of glitches in the role-play game featuring Hollywood star Keanu Reeves. CD Projekt is now valued at 29 billion zlotys ($7.78 billion) compared to around 40 billion zlotys before the game’s December debut.

Sony pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from its PlayStation Store after just a week. Since then, the firm has been working on improvements.

“The long-term goal for us is regaining the trust of players and our business partners,” Adam Kicinski told Puls Biznesu in an interview published on Monday, adding that the group was aiming for the game to be back in Sony’s store as soon as possible.

Kicinski also said that CD Projekt was sticking with plans to publish its strategy in the first quarter.

“We have been…discussing the direction for the coming years, taking into account the experience from the past weeks, he was quoted as saying.

Kicinski said CD Project would “actively defend” against any legal claims related to problems with the game and had appointed a law firm to represent the company. The company has said in statements that it is facing class action lawsuits in the United States.

Many of the issues with the game were reported on Sony’s older PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One.

Commenting on the reasons for the shortcomings, Kicinski said that adapting Cyberpunk 2077 to the older-generation consoles was a bigger challenge than had been predicted.

“The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in most of the team working remotely, which did not make things easier either,” he said.



Meta Becomes the Latest Big Tech Company Turning to Nuclear Power for AI Needs

The Meta logo marks the entrance of their corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, California on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
The Meta logo marks the entrance of their corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, California on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
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Meta Becomes the Latest Big Tech Company Turning to Nuclear Power for AI Needs

The Meta logo marks the entrance of their corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, California on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
The Meta logo marks the entrance of their corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, California on November 9, 2022. (AFP)

Meta has cut a 20-year deal to secure nuclear power to help meet surging demand for artificial intelligence and other computing needs at Facebook’s parent company.

The investment with Meta will also expand the output of a Constellation Energy Illinois nuclear plant.

The agreement announced Tuesday is just the latest in a string of tech-nuclear partnerships as the use of AI expands. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Constellation's Clinton Clean Energy Center was actually slated to close in 2017 after years of financial losses but was saved by legislation in Illinois establishing a zero-emission credit program to support the plant into 2027. The agreement deal takes effect in June of 2027, when the state's taxpayer funded zero-emission credit program expires.

With the arrival of Meta, Clinton’s clean energy output will expand by 30 megawatts, preserve 1,100 local jobs and bring in $13.5 million in annual tax revenue, according to the companies.

“Securing clean, reliable energy is necessary to continue advancing our AI ambitions,” said Urvi Parekh, Meta’s head of global energy.

Surging investments in small nuclear reactors comes at a time when large tech companies are facing two major demands: a need to increase their energy supply for AI and data centers, among other needs, while also trying to meet their long-term goals to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions. Those emissions are generated, in large part, from the burning of fossil fuels like gasoline, oil and coal. Nuclear energy, while producing waste, does not emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.

Constellation, the owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, said in September that it planned to restart the reactor so tech giant Microsoft could secure power to supply its data centers. Three Mile Island, located on the Susquehanna River just outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was the site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident in 1979.

Also last fall, Amazon said it was investing in small nuclear reactors, two days after a similar announcement by Google. Additionally, Google announced last month that it was investing in three advanced nuclear energy projects with Elementl Power.

US states have been positioning themselves to meet the tech industry’s power needs as policymakers consider expanding subsidies and gutting regulatory obstacles.

Last year, 25 states passed legislation to support advanced nuclear energy, and lawmakers this year have introduced over 200 bills supportive of nuclear energy, according to the trade association Nuclear Energy Institute.

Advanced reactor designs from competing firms are filling up the federal government’s regulatory pipeline as the industry touts them as a reliable, climate-friendly way to meet electricity demands from tech giants desperate to power their fast-growing artificial intelligence platforms.

Amazon, Google and Microsoft also have been investing in solar and wind technologies, which make electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions.

Shares of Constellation Energy Corp., based in Baltimore, were flat Tuesday.