It’s been a rough week for one of the most anticipated triple-A games of the year. Microsoft has now pledged to offer full refunds to Xbox players that feel let down by Cyberpunk 2077’s console version, following in the footsteps of a similar decision from Sony yesterday as well as developer CD Projekt Red’s own advice to unhappy players.
Specifically, Microsoft is offering full refunds to those that bought Cyberpunk 2077 digitally through the Microsoft Store but, unlike PlayStation, isn’t delisting the infamously buggy console game.
“To ensure that every player can get the experience they expect on Xbox, we will be expanding our existing refund policy to offer full refunds to anyone who purchased Cyberpunk 2077 digitally from the Microsoft Store, until further notice,” reads a tweet from the Xbox Support team.
“While we know the developers at CD Projekt Red have worked hard to ship Cyberpunk 2077 in extremely challenging circumstances, we also realize that some players have been unhappy with the current experience on older consoles.”
Cyberpunk 2077 launched last week to much acclaim from game reviewers, but it was later discovered that the experience on the PC version of the game reviewers saw didn’t line up with its console counterpart, especially on older PlayStation 4 or Xbox One systems. CD Projekt later admitted in a conference call that it didn’t give performance on last-generation consoles the attention it needed, leading to console versions that, at best, regularly crash and, at worst, are borderline unplayable.
“We ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles,” CD Projekt CEO Adam Kicinski later explained in a call with investors. “It was the wrong approach and against our business philosophy. On top of that, during the campaign, we showed the game mostly on PCs.”
CD Projekt has, in a statement shared to Twitter shortly after launch, pledged to “fix bugs and crashes, and improve the overall experience” through updates but suggested those currently unhappy with Cyberpunk 2077’s console performance seek refunds through the storefronts they purchased the game from.
This led to a bit of a scramble at first as digital stores like the PlayStation Store typically don’t allow for games to be returned once they’ve been downloaded and played. In the days since, PlayStation announced that it would put a special refund policy in place to allow for Cyberpunk 2077 refunds, but also, in a landmark move, completely delisted the game from the PlayStation Store until further notice.
In a note to investors, CD Projekt explained that the delisting was the result of a conversation between it and Sony, and assured investors that copies will remain for sale physically in the meantime.
But despite today’s refund policy extension on Xbox, Kicinski said earlier today that delisting on Xbox doesn’t appear to be on the table as its discussions with Microsoft haven’t taken a turn toward removal quite yet.
On the retail front, CD Projekt recently promised to help players refund physical or digital copies bought through retail stores itself.
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2020