After eight years of development time, Cyberpunk 2077 is finally out in the wild. While the game has been massively anticipated by fans, the launch hasn't particularly been smooth, especially for console players. There's seemingly been no shortage of reports from players regarding bugs, visual glitches, performance issues and more since the game launched less than a week ago. While CD Projekt RED has been releasing new updates to fix as many problems as possible, many console players are still unhappy with the end result.
Criticisms of Cyberpunk 2077 have started to mount online, especially in social media related websites such as the official subReddit where the community has been pretty harsh with their criticisms. Part of the issue is how different the console version of the game is compared to the one on PC, where all the official reviews were made prior to the game launching. In general, the PC version is not only prettier, but much more smooth compared to the current gen version on the PS4 and Xbox One.
With fans left frustrated a bit more than normal, Sony has made a rare exception and altered its normally ridged rule regarding refunding games. When contacting a support rep after filing a claim online, some fans have received a refund to PS4 players even after the 2 hour play time with a digital purchase. One Redditor also indicated that the support representative they spoke with confirmed that Sony was issuing a business complaint to CD Projekt RED with all of the support calls it had been receiving about the game.
PSA: Sony is issuing refunds even past the 2 hour play time for digital games, if you file a refund claim and talk to a rep. from cyberpunkgame
Traditionally, Sony doesn't offer refunds for digital games purchased from the PlayStation Store, only if there are "exceptional circumstances." As such, it's not always guaranteed that players will see a refund claim accepted by Sony, but the with regards to Cyberpunk 2077, the odds are more in the players favor than usual. Other users commented on the thread claiming they also saw success with refunds after speaking to a rep on the phone, even after being denied by the Chatbot service. For players that really feel the game is unplayable and unable to make any more progress, speaking to a Sony support representative in a calm and professional manner seems to be the way to go.
Despite the less than ideal launch for many players, the game has still managed to sell extremely well, even in the face of these current refunds. Not only did Cyberpunk 2077 go on to become the first single player game to reach 1 million consecutive players on Steam, but day one sales alone were enough to turn a profit by recovering the game's development and marketing costs from pre-orders. Shockingly, CD Projekt RED confirmed that the game was able to sell 8 million units prior to the game even launching, though with how hard the game is struggling on current gen consoles for many players, some may now have preferred to have waited instead.
Cyberpunk 2077 is on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions coming in 2021.