Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t have a good launch — and it hasn’t had a very good month since then, either. The ambitious sci-fi RPG has suffered from mismanaged expectations, game-breaking bugs and confusing corporate communiqués, culminating in unhappy fans, unhappy retailers and even unhappy investors. Less than a month after investors launched a class action lawsuit against Cyberpunk 2077 publisher CD Projekt Red, another group of investors has filed another class action lawsuit, with roughly the same parameters.
Information comes from a CD Projekt Red regulatory announcement via IGN. Legally, CD Projekt is obligated to disclose basic information about lawsuits, so we know as much as the company has shared. On January 15, a group of American investors filed a lawsuit against CD Projekt Red.
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“The content of this claim, including its subject and scope, is the same s the one disclosed by [CD Projekt] … 25 December 2020,” the announcement states. For those who aren’t caught up on Polish regulatory briefings, the December 25 suit claims that CD Projekt Red overstated Cyberpunk 2077’s level of completion, and that the company now owes investors something to compensate.
What that “something” is, is a bit of a mystery, however. Neither the first nor the second lawsuits specified exactly what the investors are after, although it’s reasonable to assume that some amount of money is involved. Had Cyberpunk 2077 launched spectacularly, CD Projekt Red’s stock would have adjusted accordingly, rather than tanking. (Look up the stock symbol OTGLY, if you’re curious, but the stock price has essentially halved since December.)
Whether either case will go to trial isn’t yet clear, although the investors seem to want one. CD Projekt Red, for its part, doesn’t seem to think the investors have the right of it.
“The Company will undertake vigorous action to defend itself against any such claims,” it wrote in the regulatory announcement.
For those who haven’t followed Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky launch, the game has been filled with bugs, from the sublime to the ridiculous, in every version. While the PC version of the game runs decently well, if you have extremely powerful hardware, the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are mixed bags. The PS4 and Xbox One versions are nearly unplayable, however — which CD Projekt downplayed rather than acknowledged.
As for whether there’s a good game underneath all the technical trouble, that’s also a subject of some debate. Some gamers loved the rich, imaginative world and interesting cast of characters; others bemoaned the relatively straightforward main quest and somewhat unambitious gunplay. In any case, you can still buy the game and decide for yourself (on most platforms, anyway). It might be wiser to wait for another big patch first, though.
