Cyberpunk 2077 has been surrounded by controversy since its launch around six months ago. The months since Cyberpunk 2077's release have been filled with updates from developer CD Projekt Red while players and fans discuss the game's rocky launch at length.
Cyberpunk 2077 launched with a litany of bugs and poor technical performance, especially for players who purchased the game on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. The launch state of the game was so poorly received that Sony made the unprecedented decision to pull Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store, which has yet to return to despite numerous updates.
It is Cyberpunk 2077's removal from the PlayStation Store that is a high point of contention for one of CD Projekt Red's investors who is calling for the Polish game developer to replace its executive-level leaders. The investor in question is Abri Advisors, an investor from the U.K. that spoke with Bloomberg about its complaints.
In the interview, Abri Advisors' CEO Jeffrey Tirman said that he doesn't think a company could make as many mistakes as CD Projekt Red has with Cyberpunk 2077 if it was trying. Cyberpunk 2077's issues have definitely impacted the companies reputation, with many claiming CD Projekt Red will have to do extremely well with its next title to regain some of its lost good will.
Tirman said that the company is soliciting other stockholders in CD Projekt Red in an effort to remove the company's entire supervisory board if CEO Adam Kicinski and the company's co-founder Marcin Iwinski are not removed from the company immediately. For motivation as to why, Tirman has to do little but point towards the 57% drop in CD Projekt Red's stock since the launch of Cyberpunk 2077. This has been followed by CD Projekt Red's first quarter profits missing the average estimate by analysts by a rather staggering 62%.
Of course, removing Kicinski and Iwinski, or the supervisory board for that matter, is not an easy task. Such a move requires a three-fifths majority vote from all of the company's shareholders, which leaves a small margin when Kicinski and Iwinski, as well Kicinski's brother Michal Kicinski, own a combined stake of 34% in the company.
This means that Abri Advisors will likely have quite the challenge getting enough votes to oust the supervisory board, but its movement could still have an impact on the company's management in the long run. CD Projekt Red has said it will continue to support Cyberpunk 2077, so only time will tell whether or not their efforts will translate to better financial reports for the remainder of the year.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S releases are currently in development.
Source: Bloomberg