Player response to Cyberpunk 2077's launch was catastrophic, but investors and Sony weren't happy with the game's launch state either. Cyberpunk 2077 released with a number of bugs and AI issues, even for PC players who were able to circumnavigate the brunt of the problems. After multiple class-action lawsuits were filed against CD Projekt for Cyberpunk 2077's turbulent launch, four cases are now being rolled into one lawsuit tackling the same concerns.
For many PS4 and Xbox One players especially, the game would fail to render NPC faces or completely crash altogether. Cyberpunk 2077 was nearly unplayable in a lot of cases, so CD Projekt Red announced players could get refunds for it, but this wasn't in-line with Sony's refund policy. The console manufacturer ended up completely pulling Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store, where it still cannot be purchased.
Investors were upset with the way CDPR handled Cyberpunk 2077's release as well as its damage control, leading to several class-action lawsuits against CD Projekt. Most of these lawsuits detail similar claims, including that CDPR misled investors and the public on the state of the game, leading to its inevitable downfall. The removal of Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation store is also cited as a key reason for the severe plummet in CD Projekt's stock prices.
These four class-action lawsuits were filed in United States courts will now be rolled into one massive case, an announcement from CD Projekt details, as they mostly encompass the same claims. One argument from representing party Rosen Law Firm states that Cyberpunk 2077 was virtually unplayable on last-gen consoles upon release, while PC players had mostly high praise for the game.
As a result of these concerns at launch, Sony, Microsoft, and CD Projekt offered full refunds for the game, causing financial harm. Much of this was largely due to CD Projekt's false statements and lack of transparency with the public and its investors.
Aside from Cyberpunk 2077's nearly unplayable state and a slew of bugs, many gamers felt misled by Cyberpunk 2077's marketing overall. It was previously revealed that the E3 2018 demo was "fake" for the purpose of show, with many of the features highlighted not making an appearance in the final game, resulting in disappointment from fans who were highly anticipating the game.
Previously, CD Projekt stated that it would "take vigorous action to defend itself" against these allegations. The current state of Cyberpunk 2077 still isn't looking great with the developer continuing to patch out old bugs, resulting in new issues for PC players.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions in development.
Source: CD Projekt, The Rosen Law Firm