Law firms in both the US and Poland are currently circling CD Projekt, the parent company of CD Projekt Red and developer behind Cyberpunk 2077, claiming the company misled both shareholders and public investors.
US law firm Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP issued a press release on Dec. 18, stating they would investigate the possibility of a lawsuit on behalf of US shareholders, stating Cd Projekt "may have issued materially misleading information to their shareholders and investing public." Lawyers in Warsaw have called the company’s actions a potential "misrepresentation in order to receive financial benefits," according to The New York Times.
CD Projekt Red, the Poland-based game, has received an onslaught of criticism surrounding the myriad of issues in its newest release, Cyberpunk 2077. The launch of the long-awaited sci-fi game was considered a "disaster" by critics and a disappointment by fans, with a myriad of glitches and bugs populating the game, particularly on PS4 and Xbox One, despite the company’s promise that the game would run smoothly on last-gen consoles.
CD Projekt Red has issued several statements addressing the problems with Cyberpunk 2077, including an official apology earlier this month, promising updates, patches and even offering players full refunds on their purchases. Ultimately, Sony pulled the game from the PlayStation Store entirely. Cyberpunk 2077 was in development for nearly a decade and had been delayed three times before the company finally settled on a Dec. 10, 2020 release date. Prior to the game’s release, rumors were circulating that CD Projekt Red was having difficulty running the game on last-gen consoles.
CD Projekt Red co-CEO Adam Kiciński recently admitted that the company did, in fact, neglect the game's development on PS4 and Xbox One, underestimating the "scale and complexity of the issues" and confirming that they "ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game" on last-gen consoles. "After 3 delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game," Kiciński said. "It was the wrong approach and against our business philosophy. On top of that, during the campaign, we showed the game mostly on PCs."
During those delay periods, employees at the company pulled long "crunch" hours, which CD Projekt called "non-mandatory," though it was reported employees pulled six-day weeks for more than a year. During a recent meeting, staffers directed some harsh questions at board members, which included asking why the company promised players a "complete and playable" game about corporate greed while, at the same time, requiring employees to crunch.
Cyberpunk 2077 is unavailable for PS4 on the PlayStation Store until further notice. Sony has a full page on the PlayStation website dedicated to offering refunds to players who purchased the game digitally, as long as the purchase can be verified.
Developed by CD Projekt Red, Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Google Stadia and PC.
Source: The New York Times, Yahoo!Finance