Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/12/18/cyberpunk-2077-removed-from-sonys-online-store-after-buggy-launch.html
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This is different. It’s usually PCs that get the crappy, buggy Console ports.
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It was all cockeyed anyway.
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From what I’ve read on reddit, it’s the “older” generation consoles that have the issues (original last-gen consoles), but that even the Xbox One X (and maybe S?) play it OK.
[Disclaimer, I work at Microsoft, my opinions are my own. I’m not familiar with the PS4 variants, so I don’t know if similar caveats apply.]
I think what’s happening here is that CD Projekt Red told customers to request refunds from Sony and Microsoft directly. As I understand it, Sony was not anticipating this whatsoever.
Sony’s refund policy requires that the customer not have download the title. Microsoft’s refund policy allows for “extenuating circumstances” and people have been having an easier time having them fulfilled. Apparently there was no coordination (or even research into the existing policies) before making the public announcement directing people to ask the console makers for the refund.
Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Promised Refunds It Couldn’t Actually Guarantee - IGN
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Should I feel comforted that it wasn’t just trans representation that they fucked up?
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Been playing for a few days on a windows PC. It’s absolutely incredible - a staggering amount of work and art in this game. It’s really fun, and the occasional bug just feels meta honestly.
the weird thing is that they haven’t released next gen specific versions yet. they’re just running the last gen code on the next gen systems. the next gen game isn’t scheduled to be out till next year sometime.
I mean I could buy that excuse with the original Assassin’s Creed, “oh, that’s not jank — it’s just the Animus simulation glitching, you guys”. These days I don’t think this excuse really flies.
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I’ve seen several threads on Twitter of people complaining that it bricked their PS4, so I imagine Sony’s decision to pull the game is at least partly related to that as well. I am, however, completely unsurprised that CDPR decided to just tell people to refund the game without even bothering to see if it was possible, because that seems totally in line with their attitude toward the entire launch process in the first place.
In related news, if you bought the game from Best Buy, they’re accepting returns on opened copies of the game (for now) too:
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I’m immensely skeptical of this claim (or of a causal relationship versus coincidence). If a game could truly do this, I’d place more blame on the platform holder.
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The One S is essentially the same hardware as the original Xbox One aside from it having a UHD Blu-ray drive, the game runs equally poorly on both. It’s reportedly much more playable on the One X (and PS4 Pro) but still very buggy. The PC version is the only true “next-gen” version though as PS5 and Series X only run the PS4 and XB1 versions in backwards compatibility mode. The actual PS5 and XSX versions won’t be out until sometime next year.
The big problem here is that both MS and Sony (and Nintendo for that matter) all have bullshit return policies on digital games. It’s absurd in 2020 for all of them to have a blanket “all sales final” stance (MS will at least usually allow 1 “courtesy refund” per customer if you make a stink) and it’s one of the main reasons I avoid buying digital games when possible. Steam has had a 14 day/2-hour return window for years and MS even flirted with doing the same thing but never fully implemented it.
They don’t give you a discount for buying digital vs. buying a disc so it’s ridiculous that they expect you to eat shit when you want to return a game that you may not have even played. I can return a sealed game or even sell a disc at a bit of a loss, but with digital you’re just out $60 even though it’d cost them nothing to revoke your license. The fact that they make way more money from digital sales means they should be doing everything in their power to encourage people to buy digital but instead they try to screw you at every opportunity.
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There’s just no chance I’ll buy digital if there’s a physical copy available; the “convenience” of having to download 100GB+ files, not being able to either return or sell what is nowadays never a finished product on release, and for the same or often higher price? I’ll pass
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Thanks for your insights! I am a bit surprised, I was seeing a number of redditors comment that the X1X was running ok. Maybe I misread!
I’m surprised that people have troubles with the Microsoft customer service, from what I’d come across it was much less painful than Sony’s. Our attention to the customer is actually something that I’ve taken a bit of pride in working here (now that Ballmer’s out, anyway… Nadella has really walked the talk and turned Microsoft around).
As to your last paragraph, I hope you were jumping for joy with the original announce on Xbox! The organization had worked extremely hard to support the scenarios you envisioned, and so much more. But due to external pressures, that solution did require tracking instances of purchase (otherwise you could just disconnect the console and do the refund, or other physical workarounds… same as Steam’s “offline” mode that’s really a 30-day pause). The benefits to the consumer were horrifically messaged… as we all saw, the consumer backlash resulted in a huge walkback of the plans to reshape the digital purchase landscape.
Steam did later introduce family sharing. We’ll get to the future eventually.
@gmbradley I’m only buying physical.
I used to agree. But in this day and age, where they ship a game expecting people to download another 30GB patch on launch day… I’ve accepted the initial pain point in exchange for stability and faster load times. That said, I rarely find I actually get around to reselling the game, so I’m in a different position.
All comments are my own and not representative of my employer.
Physical distribution doesn’t really change this. It’s just “downloading” 100+ GB from physical media instead of downloading it over the internet. (And don’t forget all the GBs of patches you’ll need to download.)
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You are welcome to try that comparison over my internet connection 
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I’ve lodges about 40 hours of gameplay on the PS4 version of this (with a physical copy) and there are bugs but it’s not been as bad (for me at least) as the press seems to be protraying.
Low-grade textures? Seen this once or twice as textures shift from low-rez to high rez but it’s rare for me.
T-pose NPCs? Seen it once and I might not have noticed if I didn’t know to look for it.
Crashes? Two so far. Annoying, for sure, but I’m used to playing on PC so games crashing out is not a new thing for me.
The bug that seems most prevelant is the game failiing to recognize status changes. By this I mean combat sountracks playing long after combat has ended, various notifications getting stuck on screen after they should really disappear etc.
Annoying at times but not a real game-breaker or anything like that.
Is it buggy? Yeah. Is it the buggiest game I’ve played? Not by a long run.
(Running on orginal PS4 hardware)
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I found this timeline of events to be informative, showing how the company was aware of many of the game’s issues but rushed it out anyway. Still little in the way of discussion about the transphobic toxic culture of the company but hey ho, i’ll take any satisfaction i can get.
However, they did apparently make a profit after just one day so at least the christmas bonuses for the boss’s should be assured!
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Every version has major issues. Consoles seem to have some horrendous asset streaming/performance problems, but it’s very buggy on PC as well.
