CD Projekt Red slapped with class action lawsuit over buggy Cyberpunk 2077 launch

[nanoguy]

Cutting corners: In the aftermath of an eventful launch for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red will have to deal not just with angry gamers that are demanding the game they've paid for, but also with investors seeking damages for being misled about potential game-breaking issues.

Highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 was released earlier this month to mixed reviews, as its visually impressive Night City environment and decent story was crushed under a mountain of technical issues on certain platforms, ranging from somewhat funny glitches to game-breaking bugs like corrupted save files.

For many people who have been looking forward to an incredible neo-noir experience in a complex, dystopian environment and the ability to customize their character's looks, cybernetic enhancements, and personality, the released game brought only headaches as it was nearly unplayable in older hardware -- (side note) for once PC gamers were rewarded with a buggy yet enjoyable experience that took full advantage of high-end hardware, which is why you'll hear less complaints in some circles.

For public investors like Andrew Trampe, however, this has become an unacceptable spectacle. CD Projekt Red now faces a class action lawsuit for allegedly violating federal securities laws and misleading investors about the abysmal performance on last-gen consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The suit was filed by Rosen Law Firm in a Los Angeles court and seeks to represent anyone who bought the company's securities between January 16 and December 17 this year.

According to the lawsuit, CD Projekt Red claimed the game was "complete and playable" in January, a statement contradicted by the many delays that were, by the developer's own admission, due to the massive undertaking of trying to release the game on many different platforms and ironing out the technical issues that arise in such a complex project.

This has become the norm in the gaming industry, with many studios choosing to push out unfinished games hoping to patch them up in the months after the release.

For CD Projekt Red, this is proving to be an expensive approach, with stock plunging nearly 30 percent during Cyberpunk's launch week. Furthermore, despite having sold over 13 million copies in the first 10 days, many players on last-gen consoles are demanding refunds, which is why Sony decided to simply remove the game from the PlayStation store "until further notice".

In the meantime, a number of class-action lawsuits are brewing in other states, which could turn ugly for the Polish developer in the near future.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/88085-cd-projekt-red-slapped-class-action-lawsuit-over.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Sad to see it happen but they deserve punishment as do so many other companies that knowingly release "buggy" products before they are ready. Considering what game companies now charge, their implementation of "loot boxes" and other ways of getting more and more revenue's, especially in games that just don't deserve it, it's about time that a few investors and gamers go after them and make them pay. Hopefully, although doubtful, this will send a strong message to the game makers that it better be right before it hits the streets ....

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I'm not sure what the overall impact of this may be.

Hopefully it will ensure that no game is ever released with buggy again.

But this goes way beyond "bugs".

This was a game that was never going to work on the last-gen consoles... released for the last gen consoles.

If I'd been their CEO, I'd have simply given refunds to PS4 owners and told em up front - "we ain't releasing it for PS4 and Xbox One so buy a PC, PS5 or Xbox SX".

 

[Xex360]

I'm not sure what the overall impact of this may be.

Hopefully it will ensure that no game is ever released with buggy again.

But this goes way beyond "bugs".

This was a game that was never going to work on the last-gen consoles... released for the last gen consoles.

If I'd been their CEO, I'd have simply given refunds to PS4 owners and told em up front - "we ain't releasing it for PS4 and Xbox One so buy a PC, PS5 or Xbox SX".

Rubbish, RDR2 looks great and runs ok even on the Xbox DVR. They started developing the game on the old consoles, they just messed up.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This was a game that was never going to work on the last-gen consoles... released for the last gen consoles.

This is a game that started development 4 years before the release of the PS5, started development 3 years before the launch of RDR2, which runs fine on last gen consoles.

Rubbish, RDR2 looks great and runs ok even on the Xbox DVR. They started developing the game on the old consoles, they just messed up.

Quantum Youtube Channel will never acknowledge that the game started technical development in 2016. In his mind because it works better on PS% it obviously was a PS5 game from the get go.

 

[MaestroIT]

Developer delays the launch -> people get mad
Developer launch with bugs -> people get mad

How many game launches are released bug free?

 

[Squid Surprise]

According to the lawsuit, CD Projekt Red claimed the game was "complete and playable" in January,

It isn’t January yet.... what nonsense is this?

 

[Lew Zealand]

What a. surprise.

Sleazy class-action lawyers looking for yet another fat payout with the clients (lol, investors also wanting a "guaranteed" profit in the stock market, good luck with that) getting a piddling. Not to say that CDPR didn't completely F up the previous-gen console release, they totally did.

money money money money money. Mo' money.

 

[doomworm]

Developer delays the launch -> people get mad
Developer launch with bugs -> people get mad

How many game launches are released bug free?

Developer delays the launch -> a few nuts get mad
Developer launch with bugs -> people who paid good money for a complete game get mad

Fixed.

 

[TomSEA]

Developer delays the launch -> people get mad
Developer launch with bugs -> people get mad

How many game launches are released bug free?

There's a big difference between launching a game with a few annoying (and sometimes humorous) bugs, and launching a game that's unplayable.

 

[nnguy2]

Sleazy lawyers. This is just part of a shorts attack to drive down stock price.

 

[nnguy2]

This is a game that started development 4 years before the release of the PS5, started development 3 years before the launch of RDR2, which runs fine on last gen consoles. Quantum Youtube Channel will never acknowledge that the game started technical development in 2016. In his mind because it works better on PS% it obviously was a PS5 game from the get go.

Just because the game was developed during the life of the consoles doesn't mean things don't change or technology/game engine get upgrades.

Like you think ps4/xb1 would be able to do ray tracing?

 

[Namtrooper]

According to the lawsuit, CD Projekt Red claimed the game was "complete and playable" in January,

It isn’t January yet.... what nonsense is this?

They are referring to January 2020.

 

[Roxxas049]

Sad to see it happen but they deserve punishment as do so many other companies that knowingly release "buggy" products before they are ready. Considering what game companies now charge, their implementation of "loot boxes" and other ways of getting more and more revenue's, especially in games that just don't deserve it, it's about time that a few investors and gamers go after them and make them pay. Hopefully, although doubtful, this will send a strong message to the game makers that it better be right before it hits the streets ....

Ultimately this lawsuit will fail. The game is perfectly playable, yes there a re a few bugs but every AAA game released in the history of ever had bugs and will have bugs in the future. They have already made patches available for the worst of the bugs. The biggest reason for the lawsuit is all the crying entitled 18-25 year olds who have nothing better to do than sit in mommas basement and play games all day because their parents made sure they always got a participation trophy instead of let them know that **** happens and you have to overcome life's little disappointments without throwing a temper tantrum. I imagine these same people are the ones that claim The Last Jedi "ruined" their childhood. Buncha whiney babies who need their butts wiped by mommy.

 

[Squid Surprise]

They are referring to January 2020.

It was NOT complete and playable a year ago... and no one claimed it was....other than you apparently

 

[fps4ever]

I'm not sure what the overall impact of this may be.

Hopefully it will ensure that no game is ever released with buggy again.

But this goes way beyond "bugs".

This was a game that was never going to work on the last-gen consoles... released for the last gen consoles.

If I'd been their CEO, I'd have simply given refunds to PS4 owners and told em up front - "we ain't releasing it for PS4 and Xbox One so buy a PC, PS5 or Xbox SX".

If there is a lawsuit it should strictly focus on older PS4 or Xbox One consoles. Just refunding them would be a wise choice at this point but that is a rather large number of pre-orders from what I understand. PC gamers have already been lapping up buggy game releases for years and continue asking for more.

 

[m4a4]

It was NOT complete and playable a year ago... and no one claimed it was....other than you apparently

He literally quoted the text in the lawsuit (that may or may not have been said publicly).......

Besides, complete would be referring to the story and "playable" does not imply "bug free" or "polished" lol

 

[ddferrari]

While I can see that lawsuits were inevitable and somewhat justified, I'm left imagining how they may affect CDPR's financial ability to continue patching the game. Has anyone considered that if CDPR is deeply damaged financially- or even driven into bankruptcy- CP2077 may become the next No Man's Sky.

I'm hoping that by the time I can actually buy a 3080, this game will be much more polished for all.

 

[Squid Surprise]

He literally quoted the text in the lawsuit (that may or may not have been said publicly).......

Besides, complete would be referring to the story and "playable" does not imply "bug free" or "polished" lol

No... I quoted the text.... I suspect it was an error by the writer...

 

[Irata]

It was NOT complete and playable a year ago... and no one claimed it was....other than you apparently

Are you sure about that ?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1217861009446182912

https://www.ign.com/articles/cyberpunk-2077-complete-playable-delayed-to-september

CDPR‘s official statement was that they delayed the launch „to make the game perfect” (their words, not mine).

Quite frankly, it seems CDPR spent their development efforts to please their sponsor by delivering a great RT + DLSS showcase. Hope it was worth it in the end.

 

[Namtrooper]

Are you sure about that ?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1217861009446182912

https://www.ign.com/articles/cyberpunk-2077-complete-playable-delayed-to-september

CDPR‘s official statement was that they delayed the launch „to make the game perfect” (their words, not mine).

Quite frankly, it seems CDPR spent their development efforts to please their sponsor by delivering a great RT + DLSS showcase. Hope it was worth it in the end.

Thank's for doing the heavy lifting for me Mr. Irata. Hopefully Squid will eat his words. People get so oversensitive.

 

[Bulllee]

The Giuliani-esque action is bound to fail.

 

[m4a4]

No... I quoted the text.... I suspect it was an error by the writer...

Hahaha, then that's even worse, as you yourself literally quoted the text paraphrasing the lawsuit that claims what you said no one claimed (without even looking at the lawsuit).

To spell it out, the lawsuit states

On January 16, 2020, CD Projekt released a statement announcing that though Cyberpunk 2077 was “complete and playable”, the game’s release date would be delayed until September 7, 2020, as the Company “needed more time to finish playtesting, fixing and polishing.”

A simple lookup.

 

[Rayneofpayne]

What a. surprise.

Sleazy class-action lawyers looking for yet another fat payout with the clients (lol, investors also wanting a "guaranteed" profit in the stock market, good luck with that) getting a piddling. Not to say that CDPR didn't completely F up the previous-gen console release, they totally did.

money money money money money. Mo' money.

Morons tend to forget, investments are a gamble you aren't guaranteed anything, although they like to demand as much, which they will blather about capitalism without ever actually reading the "capitalist manifesto". It's like the people that use "atlas shrugged" as some sort of gospel why they need entitlements while saying people beneath them shouldn't benefit. That's life.people are pitiful.

 

[applesauce]

He literally quoted the text in the lawsuit (that may or may not have been said publicly).......

Besides, complete would be referring to the story and "playable" does not imply "bug free" or "polished" lol

I think you should look up what the word complete means...