Cyberpunk’d 2020: Megacorps, Nook’s Cranny, and the New Normal

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ACNH) charmed players with its goal-setting mechanics, pleasing aesthetic, and engaging community. On the other hand, Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most anticipated games in the last decade, spectacularly failed to meet player expectations. This reception resulted in a public apology from CD Projekt Red (CDPR), new mental health resources for the development teams, and a series of post-release hotfixes. However, despite the fact that Cyberpunk was “so broken it was pulled from a major store,” the game broke CDPR’s profit record, selling more than 13 million copies. By September 2020, ACNH had sold roughly 26 million copies, becoming the third best-selling game of 2020 according to the NPD Group. Both games were successful enough to crack the top 20 best-selling games of the year despite differences in reception, media coverage, and content. The contrast in reception of these two successful games during a worldwide pandemic raises questions about what role videogames are expected to fill during difficult times. It also calls attention to curious incongruences between player consumption and media coverage.