AAA gaming flops are nothing new, though it certainly feels like there’s been a lot of big ones over the last several years. Cyberpunk 2077 faced a disastrous launch when it came out a year ago today, and the remastered GTA Trilogy didn’t fare much better when it was released last month.
Despite what seems to be a rash of high-profile disasters, it is almost unheard of for AAA developers to face any kind of legal consequences. However, it appears that Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red may be an exception, as it’s entering settlement negations with outraged shareholders.
CD Project Red released Cyberpunk 2077 last year with a slew of serious technical problems. The resulting fallout led to a flood for returns, Sony pulling Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store, and CD Projekt’s stocks plummeting. Players were furious to see another AAA developer roll out another unfinished game. Meanwhile, CD Projekt’s investors weren’t happy to see the value of their shares tank. The latter group filed a series of class-action lawsuits, arguing that CDPR lied to investors about the state of Cyberpunk 2077 before release. Among other claims, the plaintiffs allege that CD Projekt knew the game was functionally unplayable on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and concealed that information from shareholders.
During a regulatory update on Wednesday, CDPR revealed that the company is negotiating with the plaintiffs. The US District Court for the Central District of California has suspended the combined legal proceedings while the negotiations take place. However, the statement notes that these negotiations do not constitute an admission of wrongdoing from CD Projekt Red. However, the specifics of the talks aren’t available to the public.
CD Projekt Red has released several patches for Cyberpunk 2077 since its launch last December. The game’s massive 1.2 update was released in March, making over 500 changes, including various bug fixes, graphical updates, and performance improvements. In June, CD Projekt’s CEO Adam Kiciński declared that the studio was satisfied with the game’s performance.
However, CD Projekt Red recently decided to further delay the next-gen versions of Cyberpunk 2077, which it had initially planned to release in the second half of 2021. Kiciński explained the studio’s decision during a November interview with the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. He cited the need to fine-tune Cyberpunk 2077’s graphics and performance. Additionally, the studio reportedly made that decision at the recommendation of the game’s development team. If only CD Projekt had listened to them during development, it might be in a better position now.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions releasing in 2022.
Source: Video Games Chronicle
