CD Projekt Red: Console Cyberpunk 2077 Players Can Request Refunds
If you're willing to wait for patches.
It's been a rough few days for anyone who purchased CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 for either the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Due to several issues, such as buggy AI and performance-related issues, many customers have taken issue with the state of the game.
Sony was already allowing some refunds through its online store. Now, CD Projekt Red has come out and provided a detailed outline regarding the state of Cyberpunk 2077 and is suggesting unhappy customers of the digital versions apply for refunds through Sony and Microsoft's console marketplaces.
pic.twitter.com/jtF5WKCiroDecember 14, 2020
Simultaneously, the developer is suggesting that those who purchased physical copies should try to request a refund at the store where the game was purchased and reach out to CD Projekt Red directly if they aren't able to do so. The company has an email that will be available for one week, until December 21, which is before the Christmas gift-giving period.
"Finally, we would always like everyone who buys our games to be satisfied with their purchase." The statement reads. "We would appreciate it if you would give us a chance, but if you are not pleased with the game on your console and don’t want to wait for updates, you can opt to refund your copy. For copies purchased digitally, please use the refund system of PSN or Xbox respectively. For boxed versions, please first try to get a refund at the store where you bought the game for boxed versions. Should this not be possible, please contact us at helpmerefund@cdprojektred.com and we will do our best to help you. Starting from today, you can contact us for a week up until December 21st, 2020."
Happily Sony gave me fully refund pic.twitter.com/JZgIyHu6tUDecember 10, 2020
If Microsoft and Sony accept refund requests, it is benevolent. Per their purchase and pre-order policy, once someone has downloaded a game to their console, they can no longer request a refund. There's no doubt that the game's numerous issues have prompted Sony and Microsoft to intervene, and it's good to see the companies working to accommodate their user bases.
Neither the PS4, PS4 Pro, or the Xbox One can provide a steady 30 frames per second, and segments that involve driving and gunplay can see drops as low as 20 frames per second. It's clear that there is still some optimization work to do, and CD Projekt Red has its work cut out for it with getting the console versions to an acceptable and playable level.
While the author of this piece is enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 on his PC, it is hard to recommend anyone playing this on the base version of the PlayStation 4, the PlayStation 4 Pro, or Xbox One for that matter. The best way to play the game, is via PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, X or Google's Stadia, which runs surprisingly well. In the meantime, CD Projekt Red has acknowledged the issues and has already released an update that addresses several game-breaking bugs.
Also, the company has recently announced its plans to "correct" the current status of the game across the last-generation of consoles. However, there are still numerous bugs that have yet to be patched, as many of us are well aware of.
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"Together these should fix the most prominent problems gamers are facing on last-gen consoles. We will be informing you about the contents of each patch ahead of their release. They won’t make the game on last-gen look like it’s running on a high-spec PC or next-gen console, but it will be closer to that experience than it is now."
For now, you'll have to decide if you'll either hold on to your copy of Cyberpunk 2077 or if you'll request a refund and see how the situation plays out.
Keith Mitchell is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He is an IT professional during the day, and a passionate lover of video games and tech after his 9-5 grind. He has a weird affinity for Soulsborne games and plays them non-stop.
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velocityg4 At least they are allowing refunds. While I can understand some glitches on desktops. Given the wide variety of OS versions, third party software, drivers and hardware.Reply
How can consoles be bug ridden? It's not like it should be a surprise. There isn't a wide range of variables to account for like with Windows. It seems more like they had a deadline to hit and bugs be damned. This should have been figured out in beta testing. Not making the paying customers the beta testers. Although it's not like this is a new issue.
That's one thing I liked with old consoles. There was no second chance. Devs had to test and get it right as updates weren't possible. -
Giroro The "Bring it back to the retailer" response reminds me when I complained to Bethesda that the Physical copy of Doom Eternal I bought ended up being a code for a digital copy of the game - and not even the Steam version, the Bethesda store version (Also I had a problem with their post-launch DRM and crashes frequent/regular enough that I couldn't beat the game). They basically told me there was nothing they could do, they couldn't refund me , or give me a code to the normal PC version of the game - but if I had a problem with the game that I should return it to the retailer I bought it from. A response that was, just, super insulting coming from a company headquartered in the USA.Reply
Has any retailer, anywhere in the world, accepted any return of any opened game in the last 25 years? Like is there some law in Europe that makes such a thing possible in some random region of rural Germany or something? I truly don't understand why any company would train their CSR's to recommend something that they know is impossible. Especially since licensing agreements written by the publishers themselves are the primary reason that retailers can't accept returns on software.
So, kudos for CDPR for at least setting up an option to contact the company directly... just still not sure why they act like wasting a few hours waiting in line to attempt an impossible retail return during the holiday rush will accomplish anything more than further frustrating the customers that they have already burned by shipping a broken product.