Cyberpunk 2077 hit with class action lawsuit

Cyberpunk 2077 review
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

The sorry state of Cyberpunk 2077 has already hit developer CD Projekt Red in the wallet with Sony allowing no-questions-asked returns of PS4 copies, but the financial damage might be about to get that bit more painful for the company.

On Christmas Eve, investor Andrew Trampe filed a lawsuit against CD Projekt Red seeking unspecified damages, arguing that the company made “false and/or misleading” statements about the game, at various points overselling how finished the title was, and underplaying the volume of bugs. 

The claim argues that the game “was virtually unplayable on the current generation Xbox or PlayStation systems due to an enormous number of bugs” which led to the company suffering “reputational and pecuniary harm.”

The evidence for the claim is a series of quotes allegedly taken verbatim from developer announcements and investor calls. In one conference call in November, for example, the company is quoted as acknowledging the existence of bugs but reportedly stated that “we believe that the level will be as low as to let gamers not see them.” The suit also highlights that CD Projekt Red labeled the game as “complete and playable” back in January 2020, before pushing it back a number of times.

A press release accompanying the lawsuit from Rosen Law Firm requests that investors interested in joining the class action lawsuit contact the firm, which specializes in “global investor rights” no later than February 22, 2021.

It continues to be what can only be described as a ‘rocky’ first month for Cyberpunk 2077. While the experience differs dramatically depending on the version you’re playing (the PC edition is comparatively low on bugs, while playing last-gen versions on next-gen hardware reduces the console version’s performance issues), the company has acknowledged that there is more work to do, with major patches pledged for the next few months. 

The first of these – version 1.06 – arrived a few days ago, and should ensure “improved memory management and stability, resulting in fewer crashes” on your console. It also includes a fix for a nasty PC bug where exceeding 8MB save files would lose all progress, though it doesn’t rescue saved games that were already rendered unplayable, alas. 

Not all bugs are as game breaking as that one, of course. Some are just plain entertaining

Alan Martin

Freelance contributor Alan has been writing about tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing up the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably find him tackling his ever-growing games backlog. Or, more likely, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.