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Cyberpunk 2077 Class Action Lawsuit Is Happening, CDPR Will Defend Itself

The Polish studio will defend itself against accusations it misled investors on the state of Cyberpunk's console release.

By Hayley Williams on December 29, 2020 at 7:24AM PST

As threatened earlier in December, CD Projekt S.A. is being taken to court in the United States over claims that the bug-ridden state of Cyberpunk 2077's PS4 and Xbox One releases were hidden from investors, causing them to incur losses. Now the company has responded to acknowledge the class action suit, with a brief statement saying it will defend itself vigorously.

The class action refers to Cyberpunk 2077's release on PS4 and Xbox One, which ranged from incredibly buggy to literally unplayable. The issues encountered by players on these consoles led to CD Projekt Red putting out a statement that invited unhappy players to seek a refund, and later caused Sony to remove the game from the PlayStation store in a rare move. These issues caused CD Projekt stock prices to plummet, with the company's founders losing approximately $1 billion in value off their joint share.

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CD Projekt has already received criticism from many within the gaming community for only providing advance review copies on PC, meaning the numerous issues on PS4 and Xbox One didn't come to light until the game's retail release.

The class action suit alleges that "(1) Cyberpunk 2077 was virtually unplayable on the current-generation Xbox or Playstation systems due to an enormous number of bugs; (2) as a result, Sony would remove Cyberpunk 2077 from the Playstation store, and Sony, Microsoft and CD Projekt would be forced to offer full refunds for the game; (3) consequently, CD Projekt would suffer reputational and pecuniary harm; and (4) as a result, defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages."

The suit is being brought by investors represented by New York's Rosen Law Firm, who specialize in securities cases like these. "CD Projekt shareholders have an opportunity to recover their investment losses," the firm's class action case page reads.

CD Projekt has now released a statement saying it received confirmation of this suit. "The Company will undertake vigorous action to defend itself against any such claims," the statement to investors reads.

Neither party is likely to have closure on this issue anytime soon, as class action suits are often a drawn-out process. The first step is for the court to certify that the issue is in fact eligible for a class action. By the time this case is resolved, it's likely that Cyberpunk 2077 will already be a very different game thanks to ongoing patches.

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Good. Kill them. Companies like this that enable crunch and overwork their employees for months or even years on end should not exist, especially if the end result of said crunch results in buggy products. Kill them till they die a death so horrid that they're dead, lifeless, and no longer alive.

2 • 4 years ago

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If they're offering immediate refunds, I don't think they should get sued. Far out. Take your money back and move on with your life.

Upvote • 4 years ago

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@nabinator: tell that to the investors.

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Edited By ecurl143

This is what happens when your game is forever in development. Several console generations pass and your game doesn't seem to know what platform it's targeted for anymore.

I just feel CDPR literally threw everything at the game and the QA/technical responsibility went flying out of the window. The technical director for the game has a hell of a lot to answer for because ultimately, it's he/she who had overall responsibility for this hitting the market in a good place. That didn't happen, so something terribly wrong going on with the production pipeline there.

It's not just one thing though because you can literally level criticism at every aspect of the game. A lot of the game components seem fundamentally broken to me and what should have been a glorious gaming experience has just turned into a cautionary tale in how not to make a game. I know a lot of people who bought the game. seemingly having a great experience but I do ask is it as awesome as you thought it would be, or is it just OK or better than you expected?

4 • 4 years ago

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@ecurl143: I had no pre-conceived motions coming into Cyberpunk, so I had no glass ceiling to shatter. To me, on PC, it's an amazing gaming experience with very few bugs. Over 75 hours and I only had 1 major glitch and it wasn't that bad (my character 'teleported' to a ladder after I jumped away from it). Big whoop... It's one of the better gaming experiences I've had since GTAV, even if it's not as good.

Systems could be better? But I dunno how that will look like, because I went in with fresh eyes; no expectations. I mean a third person over the shoulder view would be nicer to see your loot you wear, and I think menuing could be better (dealing with junk items and stuff), and the cops could have better AI when you reach multiple stars. Imagine MaxTac roping down on hovercars, with shotguns that slay your ass. And my biggest gripe: not able to change your hair/tattoos.

So, I think things like this could improve and I hope they do so with DLC. I'm a software developer and I know how hard it is these days to build bug free code. Could they do better? Possibly... but it's never an easy decision to release code, ib fact, I've never had a project that was truly ever 'ready' for release. You kinda have to let it out and se how it does.

CDPRs biggest mistake is optimizing the hell out of PC and hopefully just 'tuning down graphics options' for Xbox/PS (the idea makes sense), but they underestimated the RAM and bus speed of these systems. I think there is a timing issue/race condition with world streaming and physics occurring simultaneously which causes most of the bugs. And finally, with memory allocation.

2 • 4 years ago

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Edited By rotchild

@Radnen: Nice take, kinda. I mean, I've put 40 some hours into it. And it was the slowest 40 hours I ever put up on a game (taking almost 30 days). I've never played a Triple-A title that doesn't make me wanna play more every time, than this game. 'Cause it's simply not fun. Everything is just a chore. It doesn't do anything right. The combat is subpar. You can just upgrade ONE single weapon and go with it for the entire game (I have that "Lizzy" handgun, which has a high initial stat, and I only used other weapons to break down components and upgrade it to a point in which I can one shot kill anyone, and 3 shot kill any boss... where's the fun in that?)....

The driving physics (or lack thereof) are horrendous. I mean, it's pretty much non-existent. The only HINT of any driving AI, is on scripted missions (most notably the "Sinnerman" mission, and the ones you do races for Claire), and that's when they show how horrible it is. There's no A.I., whatsoever. It's just some scripted mess.

Not being able to change hairstyle (or tattoos) is just the tip of the iceberg (you could do that in GTA San Andreas... a game from 2004). There are absolutely no side activities in the game. None.

And speaking of GTA, I believe if "Seedy" PR (get it? ;) ) took the same approach Rockstar took with GTA V, this debacle wouldn't exist: First make it work on current gen (like, the consoles that were around when they announced the game in 2016: ps4's and xbox ones), and THEN you release some "upgraded" version / 4K texture pack to please the graphical rich fanboys, owners of the few Ps5's, 3000 series GTX cards that were made available for a short time. GTA V runs butter smooth on xbox 360's and ps3's (consoles that were around when the game came out in 2013), the same way you can run with everything cranked up to 4K on a 3080 / 3090. Seriously, there's absolutely no comparing both games. It's kinda of a sacrilege, really. Hell, there's no way to even compare CP2077 to GTA 4... as this video right here shows

There's a good review that was out some 3 days ago on youtube, just type "beatemups cyberpunk liars". I don't wanna post 2 links here (I think one is already enough to grant a post to be deleted by staff), and this reply is already too long, so really sorry about that man...

2 • 4 years ago

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@rotchild: In a way, everything you point out continues my shock and awe at what Rockstar was able to accomplish. I still think most companies cannot match them. They are truly amazing at making their open worlds.

Also... your clothes got incrementally wetter in GTAV... even on the 360.. I'm still letting that sink in all these years later. IMHO not many games today still come close to that level of detail. I don't know how they did it - it simply defies modern project management trends.

Imagine being in a team meeting, thinking up ideas to implement, and have the gall to suggest your clothes get incrementally wetter. It affects material shaders, modeling, animations (because you do slow down as you slosh through water), design and clothing mechanics, and the fact the water drips on stone and makes the ground wet under you. That could be a couple person team from design to QA, a cost most companies couldn't even consider to make. And a feature that didn't ever make GTAV any better than it already is (a detail like that wouldn't be missed if it hadn't been implemented) but yet here we are. Cyberpunk, with 4+ years of development and missing core things (I'm still having fun though).

Also... Yes, GTAV had all that on the X360/PS3! I agree - Cyberpunk should've been a similarly complete version for X1/PS4 and then forward ported to next gen and consoles later this year. For how popular PS5 and XSX are... not very many people have them yet. If 30%+ of your audience is on last gen HW... shoulda targeted them first.

2 • 4 years ago

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Edited By rotchild

@Radnen: Yeah, it's crazy to think that almost every game Rockstar put out, surpasses the previous one. And almost all of them are ahead of their time. Heck, even the very first GTA (the one with the top view) when it came out in 99, it blew everyone away (yes, I remember it... getting kinda old...)

To the point that maybe it's not even fair to compare both devs. R* have been around for more than 20 years now, and have a great catalogue of games to back them up (even their Table Tennis game is freakin' good!). While CDPR have been around for 10 years less and have basically Witcher. And Witcher 3, that is. I'm not going to consider the first 2 games and all the spinoffs of Witcher 3 (gwent or thronewhatever...). And even with Witcher 3 holding it's own as an awesome game (I loved it, have more than 100 hours into it), it does because of great characters, story and quests. The mechanics are nothing special, the combat is mediocre (although serviceable), and the RPG elements are unsatisfactory. So was it FAIR to expect Cyberpunk to be that groundbreaking, because of "only" Witcher 3? I don't believe so. That's why your zero expectations approach was the ideal one (along with a lot of people that did the same, but they're probably the vast minority of people that played the game... Since the hype was so big, expectations were also big.)

Fact is, CDPR supported Witcher 3 in an awesome way. Not only with 2 great DLC's, obviously... But the patches, fixes and the creation kit, that allowed for some great mods. Can they do the same with CP2077? I believe they can (and will) fix the bugs, glitches and performance issues. But can they fix core gameplay mechanics? Since you're a developer, would be kinda neat to read your take on the subject.

Edit: The number you mentioned at the end, I believe it's 40% plus (of CP2077 sales for current gen), not 30.

2 • 4 years ago

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@rotchild: I think you said it best when you mentioned Rockstar did this for 20+ years. As a software developer, whenever you can reuse code/systems you can improve on things while taking much needed time for other things. I mean CDPR went from "Swords and Sorcery" to "Automobiles and Guns". Third person to first person. Playing a pre-built character, Geralt to a customized character, V. And so on. There are many 'firsts' for this company in this game.

I think, CDPR did what Rockstar took more than two decades doing by coding the groundwork for open world "city" games. The police AI could be improved, but once you have it, you have it. Cars were funky in early GTA Games, like the helicopters and other things come to mind, it's not as smooth as they got it by GTAV. But once you got it, you got it. I mean, I felt the aiming system is similar even in LA Noir and Red Dead Redemption, what with the reticle and similar over-the-shoulder camera. It totally smells like code reuse (but in a good way). But again, once you got it, you got it.

I think CDPR needs what is known in the industry: iterations. They need to iterate on current systems, but that would have been impossible for them to do that on their very first open city game. It's so, so much different from Witcher.

Fallout 4, love it or hate it feels better than Fallout 3, since they were able to iterate on mechanics, but keep the same open world vibe similar to all their other games.

And for the ultimate in code reuse, look no further than madden, which apparently used the same internal source for teams and team management for more than 30 years (even causing the original coder to get involved legally!)

2 • 4 years ago

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Hopefully games companies will put a bit more effort into pre-release bug fixing from now on.

2 • 4 years ago

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Edited By MalangoPR

Since 2018 it was said, when the tests were running, that Cyberpunk CANNOT BE USED IN THE PREVIOUS GENERATION (PS4, XBOXONE). question I ask. Isn't it supposed that when a third party game is in process and finished, the console company that will acquire the game doesn't do a quality control to see how well the game works?

Why all this chase against cyberpunk? of course of course playstation store took it out and they are crying. Miles Morales is awful with bugs, bugs gone, I mean DAYS GONE was just as bad. where were the complaints and demands? like cyberpunk it works on XBOX S / X and PC. THATS WHY cryniers are like this. but the press uffff like sony spent 3 times more than xbox on advertising

Upvote • 4 years ago

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@malangopr: Also:

"Since 2018 it was said, when the tests were running, that Cyberpunk CANNOT BE USED IN THE PREVIOUS GENERATION (PS4, XBOXONE)"

Said who? Do you have any source to claim/prove that "saying"? Or you just pulled that "info" out of thin air?

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mogan Moderator

@malangopr: Miles Morales and Days Gone weren't half so bad on the base PS4 and Xbox One as Cyberpunk was at launch. But Sony didn't take the game down because of quality issues, they took the game down because CDPR was pointing everyone upset about the state of the game to Sony for a refund, making it Sony's problem. Their refund system kind of sucks, so instead of letting the problem get worse as more people bought the game, they just removed it from the store.

Also, Sony and Microsoft DO have a certification process for games that launch on their systems, which is supposed to ensure those games actually run on the hardware. It's not unheard of though for publishers to send in a game for cert. with an explanation that they know it's busted, but they're working on a day 1 patch which will fix it. Because the publisher needs to get disks printed and shipped out to be on shelves in time for launch, platform holders have let games pass cert. in a broken state, assuming they'll be fixed with a launch day patch and the next printing of disks will include that update. In Cyberpunk's case, that day one patch did not even come close to fixing the issues with the last gen. version of the game.

2 • 4 years ago

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There's no win situation for CDPR in this lawsuit, are they going to tell the Courts that we told our investors how bad the game run on last gen consoles but intentionally hid the truth from Consumers?

2 • 4 years ago

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@letsgame82: Not to mention all the blatant false advertising... But even if CDPR wins the lawsuit, it's a no-win situation as you said: the damage has been done. Imagine when they announce their next game (say, whatever... "Witcher 4"), it will become an INSANT meme.

Beginning to think if they somehow go bankrupt (I can't wish for that, since CDPR's got a damn good No-DRM policy, and gog.com also) and another mogul developer buys them out... hopefully a "good" dev (yes, between quotes), say... Rockstar? Maybe we can hope for a "GTA 7: Night City" in some 15 or 20 years to fix all this clusterfuck.

Upvote • 4 years ago

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@rotchild: CDPR won't go bankrupt... Most lawsuits rarely end with large companies going away. They'll settle for several million dollars which amounts to no more than a slap on the wrist with what they made.

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Edited By rotchild

@Radnen: Most probably (won't go bankrupt), of course. I was just hypothesizing the unlikely scenario, that's all...

2 • 4 years ago

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The only mistake CD:P made IMHO was to announce it on last gen console's, they shouldn't have done that, there is simply to much going on in the game to run on pretty old hardware. Sorry last gen console gamers but that's just how I see it.

2 • 4 years ago

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Edited By mogan Moderator

@reklawm: Cyberpunk got announced before the PS4 and Xbox One even launched, and it came out while those systems were still a much larger market than their successors. I don't think they had much choice but to make the game for last gen. systems. What they probably should have done is delay at least those versions until sometime next year, when they could get them in a state worth releasing.

2 • 4 years ago

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@reklawm: * The mistakes CDPR made was to lie about the state of Cyberpunk 2077 on last gen consoles and should've delayed it further

3 • 4 years ago

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@reklawm: Right... Too many brainless NPC's roaming around doing nothing for old hardware to handle, right? But go on... keep on drinking that kool-aid ;)

4 • 4 years ago

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I hope CD Projekt Red gets burned. Purposely misleading customers it's just an EA move.

6 • 4 years ago

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Edited By Zarpie

For me they can go up into the tree there in Poland. Stupid people, stupid company, stupid country.

2 • 4 years ago

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Didn’t take long for CD Projekt Red to lose their rockstar status...

4 • 4 years ago

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@systemoverload: Honestly, they were never Rockstar quality. Everything they make launches in a real rough state. No idea why anyone thought this would be different. They're a step up from Bethesda, they just end up making better games in the long run.

2 • 4 years ago

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@systemoverload: So true but hopefully if they survive this, they learn their lesson. They should have concentrated on PC first and then the consoles as it is shown they can't work on two or three projects at one time.

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@lonewolf1044: Doesnt look too promising. They are releasing DLCs already, without fixing the issues.

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@d3ad4ng3l: What are you talking about... please show me any DLC for Cyberpunk... there isn't any

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@LordCrisp: I said *is releasing* not *released*. https://www.cyberpunk.net/en/dlc

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*Nelson laugh*

3 • 4 years ago

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ESC

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