CD Projekt Red, the developers of Cyberpunk 2077, further acknowledged issues with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game in a conference call held yesterday.
“The game had a strong opening and we’ve got positive feedback from players enjoying it on stronger machines — PCs and next gen consoles and Stadia — but the initial feedback from those playing it on the oldest last-gen consoles is way below our expectations,” said Adam Kiciński, joint-CEO of CD Projekt, per a transcript of the investor call.
He admitted that following three delays, management wanted to get the game released, that “we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles. It was the wrong approach and against our business philosophy,” especially when the company showed the game primarily on PC in marketing. He followed up stating that the company hopes to “rebuild the trust we have lost.”
On the fact that base last-gen console footage wasn’t shown, CFO Marcin Iwiński stated that “The reason is that we were updating the game on last-gen consoles until the very last minute, and we thought we’d make it in time.” Reviewers got it one day before release, he said, because of these fixes, but it was not intended to hide it, he said.
Yesterday, CD Projekt Red tweeted from the game’s account that those who bought the game and were unhappy could seek refunds directly from the Xbox and PlayStation online marketplaces, as well as attempting to return physical disks. It seems, from the call, that Microsoft and Sony weren’t consulted prior to the announcement.
“One has to understand: Microsoft and Sony have refund policies for every product that is released digitally on their storefronts,” said board member Michał Nowakowski. “Despite several articles I’ve seen that things are being set up just for us, it’s actually not true – these policies are in place and have always been in place; they’re not offered specifically for us. Anyone who has purchased any title on the PlayStation network or the Microsoft storefront can ask for a refund, and if it’s made within certain boundaries, usually related to time, usage and so on, can ask for that refund. Our procedure here with Microsoft and Sony is not different than with any other title released on any of those storefronts. I want to state that clearly, as there seem to be certain misconceptions.”
Many users have found that they are not receiving refunds, particularly on PlayStation. The company has also stated it would prefer customers do not return the game, but be patient and wait for a series of patches coming to improve performance on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the game. Kiciński added that while sales numbers will be announced to investors in a sales report near Christmas, the company hasn’t decided on whether it will share the number of refunds outside the company.
Cyberpunk 2077 released on December 10 for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Playstation 4 and Google Stadia. The developers did ultimately work under crunch conditions, and the company did not respond to a question about a potential change in the bonus policy reported by Bloomberg that would give developers a reward no matter how the reviews turned out.
A recording and transcript of the call can be found on CD Projekt Red’s website.