Cyberpunk 2077’s launch went the exact opposite of many’s expectations: game-breaking bugs, talk over safety concerns, allegations of cut content, and misleading company jargon from CD Projekt RED has all led to a tremendously chaotic game release. Now, the Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection is investigating the studio, an investigation that could lead to a hefty fine for the company should the future Cyberpunk 2077 updates fail to address the majority of concerns.
Pending the investigation, CDPR stands to lose 10% of its annual income due to a fine. That’s not factoring in the amount of returns seen across all platforms and the pending civil suits that are currently in progress. Polish representative Malgorzata Cieloch recently spoke with a Polish business newspaper to outline the current situation:
“We will check how the manufacturer is working on the introduction of amendments or solution to difficulties preventing the game [to work] on different consoles, but also how it intends to act in relation to the persons who filed complaints and are dissatisfied with [their] purchase due to the inability to play games on owned equipment despite previous assurances [that it would].”
News of the investigation first broke by way of Polish biz-facing newspaper Dzinnik Gazeta Prawna and detailed that the next steps going forward depend on what fixes CDPR has lined up.
In the initial newspaper report, Dominik Jedrzejko also weighed in, a Polish attorney with insight into the current investigation. According to Jedrzejko, he thinks that even if the fixes address the changes the studio is hoping to achieve, that it “may not be enough” to fight back against allegations of “unfair market practice.”
Following up to the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, there have been other conversations that have counted against the company including concern over trans representation in the game and grueling work hours for the staff that brought Night City to life. It was reported shortly after launch that many developers went straight to the shareholders, demanding accountability and answers regarding how the launch went so wrong.
The troubles with Cyberpunk 2077, despite there being an enjoyable narrative in the game and characters that matter, are more than just the bugs. It was the broken communication between the company and fans (despite deliberate attempts to make it seem otherwise) and the outright attempt at deception by not allowing reviewers access to console versions of the game and purposeful intentions to hid the current state of the game on last-gen systems; especially the PS4. Following its delisting from the PS4 store and easier means to a refund via the Microsoft storefront, the troubles continued to pour in, effectively destroying a lot of trust that fans had in the CDPR name.
Respectfully, what do you think about the ongoing situation regarding CDPR and the Cyberpunk 2077 launch? Overhyped? Over-publicized? Just desserts? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below, but please keep it civil.
[Source: GameIndustry.biz]
