Sony Removes Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation Store, Offers Full Refund - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 06 March 2021 / 3,599 Views
After many years of waiting CD Projekt RED released Cyberpunk 2077 earlier this month. However, the game has many technical issues and is practically unplayable in certain areas on the base PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Sony Interactive Entertainment announced it will be removing Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store until further notice and is offering full refunds to anyone who purchased the game on the PlayStation Store.
"SIE strives to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, therefore we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store," said Sony Interactive Entertainment. "SIE will also be removing Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation Store until further notice.
"Once we have confirmed that you purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store, we will begin processing your refund. Please note that completion of the refund may vary based on your payment method and financial institution."
CD Projekt RED’s Michał Nowakowski earlier this week said the team is working on two major updates for the game that will release in January and February that will make it "a good, playable, stable game." The main goal of the updates will fix the glitches and crashes with the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 launched for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC via Steam, Epic Games, and GOG, and Stadia on December 10. A next-generation will launch later for the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 at a later date and will be a free upgrade for those that own the PS4 and Xbox One.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Morale must be at an all-time low around the CDPR offices right now. They plowed through tons of crunch to get the game out after several delays, only to have it pulled from store(s).
Imagine how Mike Pondsmith and Keanu Reeves must feel having their names attached to this project that receives constant bad publicity. CDPR will get through this for sure, but lessons will be learned, and they won’t possibly allow themselves to repeat such a blunder.
I’m lucky I don’t have to experience the base consoles version. But I still applied for the refund. I have plenty of games to play other than Cyberpunk 2077, and I prefer playing it when all of this shit show will finally be over and the game will perform and run as initially intended. So many people and outlet keep talking about how much of a mess the game is, and while I haven’t had any major issues (3 or 4 crashes and occasional yet mild glitches), the worries that it might take a nose dive down the line prevents me from fully enjoying the experience.
So I’ll get refunded, wait, and get it again once the game is completely as it’s supposed to be.
Just expect even more crunch to allow it to return to the store.
They absolutely should have let the game cook a good bit longer. Even on 9th gen hardware it's full of bugs. It runs okay, but tons of weird crap still happens. It feels like an Early Access game.
But, companies have financial pressures to get things out quickly. it's a gamble, for sure. It looks like on this one cdpr lost. I think these things have to happen once in awhile though, for management and investors to have a reminder that you can lose a ton of money when you do dumb shit like this.
This is obviously going to hurt sales of this game significantly. But, think about the value of the reputational damage. Cdpr was among the most beloved developers on planet earth. They've squandered most of that goodwill. I would think that damage is valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. I don't think it's possible to get the reputation completely restored until they release another game that is in a near perfect state. So, we might be talking about a decade to get back to the point they were at a couple of weeks ago.
It's an Xbox exclusive now
Not really, you can buy physical edition if you want, besides being on PC.
Good on for Sony for this. The executives at CDPR should be ashamed of their recent behavior. What a dumpster fire this turned out to be.
Ouch....
Should still be available for PS5 though.
@shikamaru317 - Having seen some framerate videos the game runs pretty well on PS4 Pro. The performance is acceptable on hardware that isn't a base console. Now the game is buggy beyond that as well, but let users have the option to buy it if they want.
Just give people some sort of warning like a beta tends to have. At that point, refunds shouldn't be necessary.
It isn't a PS5 game, it is a PS4 game and can be played by BC so it would be a workaround that let's say CDPR doesn't really deserve.
People would still be asking refunds anyway.
A PS5 version doesn't exist...
Had some bugs and a few crashes but overall is running decently on a 6 year old PS4 certainly no more than the vast majority of AAA game. Kinda laughable to de-list the game when Sony were fine letting utter trash on the store like Skylight Freerange 2 Gachduine and Life of Black Tiger.
I'm sorry to be asking this in the comments section of a PlayStation article, but can anybody tell me if this game plays decently on Xbox Series X? I'm trying to decide if I should buy it now, or just wait until the free upgrade for the next gen consoles.
What he said. Pretty much mirrors my experience too, played a few hours more too.
I'm playing on Series X. It runs fine, but it is still a very buggy game. No problem playing it, but it is not in proper shape for wide release, IMO. .
From Digital Foundry it plays fine enough, it isn't a next gen version, but the 30fps mode is smooth enough while being good looking and the 60fps although having some severe drops isn't a big issue. There are bugs, textures loading is problematic, and even some crashes, but is playable.
Good. Now if only they kept this attitude for any dumpster fire like Fallout 76 then assholes like Bethesda may yet get the message. Deliver a competent working product or fuck off.
Did Sony do the same thing with No Man's Sky?
What's the point of a refund when there will be a patch next month and February?
Because if a product is defective at the moment you buy you are entitled to a refund and not be demanded to wait for a solution. Waiting for a solution is your option not obligation. If the game would be working by February than launch at February. And this is after a series of lies including the game running fine on base consoles, being gold on February 2020 for PC and just smoothing things out on consoles, that day one patch make it looks like a new game, etc. So I wouldn't really trust their promise that the game will be working good by February 2021.
Watch all these people run back to the store and buy it once it's patched. All the youtubers will be saying how much better the game is, game news sites will report on the game post patch and give credit to cdproject, and people will flock back to the game.
What an epic fail!
That is a very strong action. But if they are offering unconditional refunds that is how it should be, because the Sony policy is if you downloaded and there is no defect them no refund. And we know that there are people that finished the game and are asking for refund anyway. Also if the game is broken it doesn't pass certification and can't be sold, CDPR admitted they promised Sony and MS that they would fix all those issues by launch reason why it was available on store and didn't fix.
they have to focus on last gen consoles before working on next gen upgrades and optimization...
so current gen version will be pushed back once more till they get their shi*t right...
Bravo Sony. Bravo. I'm still enjoying the game on my PS5. More bad press for CDPR :/
Thought this could happen, not a surprise. Sony found some integrity, MS next.
Instead of removing it, just give refunds for requests and maybe force the game to be labeled as beta. People want the game even with the problems and they can still buy it physically. Now if somebody wants it they have to go buy a physical copy, therefore all Sony accomplished is removing the digital option. In my opinion, bad move by Sony.
Sony just can't do anything right by you can they.
That response is ignorant. I'm simply saying give users some sort of warning and let them make the choice if they want to buy it. Also, the game is going to be fixed/improved eventually so people may be willing to tolerate its current state knowing updates will come. Hypothetically, if you own the PS5 Digital buying a physical copy isn't even an option.
CDPR was wrong for releasing it in this state with no warning. But I don't like Sony's solution of taking away the digital option. In fact, this is an example of what's wrong with digital media.
Sony giving refunds is great, but removing it I don't support.
People don't read warning labels. Refunds cost money, there likely would still be many refund requests from new buyers after the label warning came up.
No they shouldn't. Everyone knows games can have major issues at launch and still buy them, people have the warning that once you buy it is final and if you download you can't refund, people have the EULA for not sharing accounts.... they ignore all this, buy and then complain. So the only containment action really effective is stop the selling until the supplier can truly correct the problem. You want a waiver for a company that intentionally lied to customers and partners.
I love the idea of the free upgrade for later consoles. This is something I hope becomes a regular practice in the gaming console industry. The whole Wii U VC upgrade felt like a bit of a snap to the knees, even thought the cost was small.
But who's to blame on letting these A-class bugs slip through? QA or some producer(s)?
I think it's clearly on management, everybody else could have seen the problems but management told them just keep on steaming ahead regardless in order to release it on time, and wouldn't even pull the console release until it was ready. I think they were rationalizing it just needed some settings tweaks that they could manage by release date, but it clearly was more than that. This isn't even getting to the main game which seems buggy as hell even aside from basic performance problems, but the thing is too many people don't care about that. I don't really understand why people feel the need to play this game IMMEDIATELY when they would get all around better experience if they waited 9months to 1 year and even wait for price drop. Like, you can just play some other game is good that you never got around to buying/playing before.
To add to what mutantsushi explained very well. CDPR even admitted the game failed the certification process but promised it would be totally fine by launch to MS and Sony (seems like this is a common practice by AAA devs as this process is done long before going gold and we know that even after going gold most games have a hefty day one patch) but didn't fulfilled it. So it is totally on management.
And yet they will still have "fans" defend this and denounce pulling the game. There is just a culture of worshipping the latest and greatest, while ignoring or rejecting that they comply with objective standards. How is this a professional industry if they can't do that? The devs need to unionize to stop the abuse AND ensure compliance with objective industry standards. Any other engineering profession can do that, yet software engineering flies by the seat of it's pants breathing pure hype. And relies on the latest high spec PC to save it's ass by brute force.
I'm against mandatory union and fellowships, etc. But yes free of choice make a union to stand together and denounce bad practices is positive.
GoG doesn't need refunds. The PC version of the game is fine.. Yeah it is a buggy but nothing outside of the norm for massive open world games. I have about 50 hours into my character on PC and about 20 hours into another character from my free stadia version and have had zero game crashes and minor graphical issues
Yup, I think the vendor (Sony store) may be liable for transaction costs when there is refunds like this, and even if CDPR says they will cover that for Sony, it will be a mess regardless. Sony has never pubilcally sold "Betas" so why should they start now for CDPR who acknowledges the console version is not viable. I mean, "standards" fro games aren't necessarily always maximally upheld, but in this casd the dev is themselves saying the game does not fulfill even most minimal of standards.
billyboy if they don't give refunds on their own store (and yes there is bugs and broken promises for the PC version as well, besides does it work fine in all PC configurations that met at least the minimum recommended? Seems like it doesn't) then they promising refunds in third party stores without even contacting them to make a deal is another lie from CDPR that just made a shitty apologetic letter.
Essay Pro