CD Projekt Red have confirmed four class action lawsuits against Cyberpunk 2077 have now consolidated for potential common court proceedings.
CD Projekt has had months of negative press thank to the game; numerous delays and leaked footage were not the end of the woes. One reviewer suffered a major epileptic seizure, and accused the developer on basing the Braindance headset off a medical device designed to induce seizures for diagnosis.
Despite high praise from initial reviews, users complained of Cyberpunk 2077‘s numerous glitches and bugs; along with poor optimization, and the console version having inferior graphics and more bugs. Even critic reviews that praised the game also discussed those issues.
CD Projekt Red stock value dropped by 29% in a week after the game launched. CD Projekt Red apologized for the game’s advertising and launch, and offered full refunds. However, two lawsuits were launched by investors- one in Poland also being an attorney.
Both Sony and Microsoft stated they would offer full refunds for the game. Sony would remove the game from the PlayStation Store, but there were “no talks” of Microsoft removing it from theirs.
The company also shared their “Commitment to Quality” agenda, and FAQ trying to explain how the issues came about. The Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) is also monitoring CD Projekt.
In a “Strategy Update for investors,” Adam Kicinsk, President and Joint CEO of Projekt Red, explained the companies’ future plans for growth, and changes. This included announcing the cancellation of the game’s stand-alone multiplayer, and future marketing and PR campaigns being closer to the game’s launch.
In spite of all this and the founders of developer CD Projekt Red predicted to have lost $1 billion USD; Cyberpunk 2077 sold 13.7 million units in 2020. Further, only 1.6% of Cyberpunk 2077 copies were refunded, with current and predicted future refunds only affecting 9% of CD Projekt’s total game revenue in 2020.
Now, CD Projekt Red announced on the 18th (in a statement they themselves translated) that four lawsuits have been consolidated, and a lead plaintiff appointed for a potential common court proceeding.
“In relation to current reports no. 68/2020 of 25 December 2020 and 4.2021 of 15 January 2021, in order to provide an update regarding class action lawsuits filed by law firms on behalf of a group of holders of US securities traded under the ticker symbols “OTGLY” and “OTGLF” and based on shares of CD PROJEKT S.A. with a registered office in Warsaw (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”), the Management Board of the Company hereby informs that, according to information obtained from a law firm cooperating with the Company, the court has consolidated the lawsuits and appointed a lead plaintiff. Following this consolidation, all four lawsuits will be subject to potential common court proceedings.”
One of the aforementioned lawsuits include Attorney and investor Mikołaj Orzechowski; who claimed in December 2020 that CD Projekt Red (at the alleged admittance of its management board in an investor call) did not act with due diligence in developing the game for PlayStation 4. CD Projekt Red had previously apologized for not showing Cyberpunk 2077 running on last-gen consoles (only PlayStation 4 Pro).
The New York-based Rosen Law Firm also began their own lawsuit in December 2020; alleging that CD Projekt’s executives lied to investors about how development was progressing, and the final state of the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The lawsuit described the game as “virtually unplayable on the current-generation Xbox or Playstation systems due to an enormous amount of bugs.”
“[The] Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times,” Rosen Law Firm reportedly stated. “When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.” Both class-action lawsuits had previously called on investors to join.
We will keep you informed as we learn more.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available on Windows PC (via Epic Games, GOG, and Steam), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. The game is also coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2021, and players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One respectively will be able to upgrade to the next-gen for free.
Image: GOG
