CD Projekt Red offers response to Cyberpunk 2077’s performance problems on consoles

CD Projekt Red has today released an apology to Cyberpunk 2077 players for how the game is running on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One—but it’s an apology that comes with some caveats.

First, here’s the full posting from the studio as it was released today:

Now, we do feel like we need to look at what CD Projekt Red is apologizing for. It’s not the performance of Cyberpunk 2077 on current-get consoles, at least not directly. Instead, the team is saying that it’s sorry for not showing more of that performance leading up to launch.

We find it kind of strange that they aren’t apologizing for how the game is running, nor for releasing the console versions in the state they’re currently in. At the same time, to be fair, what CD Projekt Red is apologizing for is something that absolutely deserves to be called out.

Also, saying that the studio should have “paid more attention to making it play better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One” is a rather strange statement. CD Projekt Red had to have known the state of the game on current consoles, which is why there was so little shown of them in the days leading up to launch. If the studio didn’t know how bad those version were running, that makes the entire situation even more concerning.

We here at EGM, like pretty much all other North American media outlets, only got console review code for the game mere hours before it officially launched. Prior to that, the only code CD Projekt Red was giving out was for the PC build, and even then, we understand there were strict guidelines on what could and couldn’t be shown in terms of screenshots or videos taken by media.

There was a clear avoidance of showing off the console versions of Cyberpunk 2077 before release, and we internally here at EGM had our suspicions (as many others did) on what that might mean. That should never have been the case, and the various public assurances by the team on how the console versions would run sit in stark contrast to what players are now experiencing.

For its part, CD Projekt Red is encouraging and customers who aren’t satisfied with the game to ask for a refund on their copy.

Unfortunately, that process is currently hitting a snag. While Sony was offering refunds on digital purchases of the game early on, users across the internet are now reporting that both Sony and Microsoft are denying such refund requests. Hopefully, CD Projekt Red will connect with both companies, so that pathways to refunds can be opened.

Cyberpunk 2077 is not the first game to come out in such a state, and it certainly won’t be the last. There are plenty of examples of games that had rough launches that were smoothed out with time—The Witcher 3 being a perfect name to bring up—so I’ve no doubt this game will also be in a much better state even six months from now.

Still, that doesn’t let CD Projekt Red off the hook for not being more upfront and honest with all of us about the state of the console versions, nor does it silence the argument that Cyberpunk 2077 really should have been delayed yet another time—potentially until the next-gen console editions could be released simultaneously.