The release of Cyberpunk 2077
Consider the issues surround the release of Cyberpunk 2077 (https://www.polygon.com/2020/12/9/22166912/cyberpunk-2077-base-ps4-xbox-one-bugs-issues-glitches-performance-trees-bushes for details, although you are welcome to do your own research on this as well) and the importance of engineers being able to create effective business cases to identify problems and solutions, as well as the ethical implications of not being able or willing to do so. Do you think the engineers knew about the issues and tried to communicate those issues to management? Do you think they did so effectively, using the business case techniques discussed in class? Do effective communications play a role in ethical behavior? If so, how? If not, why not? Be specific and concrete – do not just note that ethics and/or communication are good and people should have some.
especially since several beta versions were released before its official launch date. However, it is also possible that they did not know due to a lack of communication between developers and management.
If the engineers did know about these issues beforehand, they may have tried to communicate those issues to management - but likely failed in doing so effectively. The techniques discussed in class for creating an effective business case include providing evidence (such as data), outlining potential risks associated with a given problem/solution, and making sure all stakeholders are involved in any decision-making process - none of which seem likely based on what has been reported regarding Cyberpunk 2077’s development cycle. If engineers had done their due diligence and included all relevant parties when communicating their concerns about potential problems with the game prior to its launch date (as well as proposing viable solutions if necessary), then there might have been a different outcome than what occurred with Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous launch day performance.
Effective communication does play a role in ethical behavior because without proper communication among various stakeholders throughout a product's development process there can be misunderstandings and missteps related to ethical considerations such as safety protocols or customer expectations/experiences that can lead to negative consequences down the line during production or distribution phases. For example, if engineering teams had troubleshooting sessions during production where they could discuss any potential warning signs they spot while working on Cyberpunk 2077 (such as bugs/glitches) and then provide feedback up through management channels so everyone was aware of any foreseeable issues before releasing it onto store shelves; then perhaps some disasters like this one could have been avoided altogether by having more transparency within all levels of development teams' communications instead of leaving important decisions solely up until last minute crunch times right before launch dates when time constraints become even tighter than normal already are for most big budget games like this one was supposed to be.