Update: CD Projekt Red has issued an official statement talking about their discussion with Sony PlayStation and their shared decision to temporarily suspend the sale of Cyberpunk 2077 on the online store.
Important Update for @PlayStation Users pic.twitter.com/fCB4z74M3z
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 18, 2020
From a move straight out of the Arasaka playbook, Sony has pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation store! In a short post on their website, Sony Interactive Entertainment promised a full refund to all gamers who bought the game from the online store and the game has also been removed for purchase from there. Sony has a strict policy of game refunds – store policy mandates that once you have started installing a game, you forgo the option of a refund. The last time something big like this happened to a AAA game was when Batman: Arkham Knight got temporarily pulled from the Steam store in November 2015 by publisher WB Games because of performance issues. Even a game like Fallout 76 by Bethesda, which launched in a broken unoptimized state, did not face this ignominy!
This unprecedented move comes only a few days after CD Projekt Red had issued a public statement apologizing about the current state of the game on last-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. They have promised two large patches, one in January and the other in February, to address the major problems on these consoles. Cyberpunk 2077 had a bug-filled glitchy mess of a launch on December 10, with a host of performance and stability issues. CDPR had offered refunds, but unfortunately it seems they hadn’t cleared their intentions with their digital distribution partners Sony and Microsoft. In a recent unscheduled investor call (official transcript), SVP of business development Michał Nowakowski said that special refunds were a misconception.
Anyone who has purchased any title on the PlayStation network or the Microsoft storefront can ask for a refund, and if it’s made within certain boundaries, usually related to time, usage and so on, can ask for that refund. Our procedure here with Microsoft and Sony is not different than with any other title released on any of those storefronts. I want to state that clearly, as there seem to be certain misconceptions.
Cyberpunk 2077 has experienced a series of firsts, but sadly none of the good kind. On OpenCritic, they got slapped with a serious consumer warning. OpenCritic co-founder Matthew Enthoven also wrote a detailed article titled They Knew It Was Wrong. CD Projekt Red Deceived Consumers Anyway explaining their decision to make this move.
The OpenCritic team and several critics suspect that the developer, CD PROJEKT RED, intentionally sought to hide the true state of the game on Xbox One and PS4, with requirements such as only allowing pre-rendered game footage in reviews and not issuing review copies for PS4 and Xbox One versions.
This notice will be taken down in February 2021.
Our pre-launch article on Cyberpunk 2077 which had talked about the game’s severe problems might have appeared to be unnecessary fear-mongering at that time, but turned out to be strangely prescient. With multiple delays, excessive crunch, cut features, no review copies for consoles and mixed messaging, we believe the blame squarely lies on the shoulders of CDPR’s administrative team, who pushed hard to rush an unfinished and unpolished game. It remains to be seen whether this Polish company would be able to redeem themselves and get back the honour and trust that they so wilfully squandered. Stock prices continue to plummet, as the launch of Cyberpunk enters the list of another thing that the year 2020 has managed to ruin.