Earlier this week CDProjekt Red issued an apology over the remarkably shoddy state of Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles, promising refunds to anyone who couldn’t receive one from Sony, Microsoft, or their retailer. Well, turns out the company failed to discuss this with both Sony and Microsoft, and have since walked back their promise to assist PlayStation fans altogether.
Microsoft has been approving most Cyberpunk 2077 refund requests, while Sony has not.
Shortly after CD Projekt Red published their apology, fans rightfully unhappy with their console version of Cyberpunk 2077 started applying for refunds. Owners of the game on PlayStation were shocked to find that their requests were not only being shot down by Sony, but CD Projekt’s official work-around wasn’t providing them any assistance either. Many took to Twitter and Resetera to share their messages from Sony’s customer service representatives, and most were told refunds would not be approved until after the major patches in January and February.
This hasn’t been the case for Xbox owners, who have largely been reporting successful refunds either from Microsoft directly, or CD Projekt’s own refund assistance at [email protected]. Sony fans seem to be up Cybershit Creek, and they are understandably upset. Normally when a company promotes refunds, they’ve reached out to the correct platform holders and worked a deal to ensure internal refund policies don’t cause an issue. Turns out CD Projekt Red did not do this, thus Sony sticking hard and fast to their strict refund policy (you can’t receive a refund once a game has been installed to your console, unless the content itself is “faulty”; a term Sony does not believe applies to Cyberpunk’s terrible base PlayStation 4 version).
CD Projekt Red’s reply to requests sent via their [email protected] doesn’t help matters, clearly implying there’s no established policy in place currently for refunds of digitally purchased PlayStation copies of Cyberpunk 2077:
“Dear gamer,
This is a confirmation that we have received your assistance request for refunding a console copy of Cyberpunk 2077. As this email was sent automatically, we kindly ask you not to reply. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible, no later than by the end of 2020, with information regarding next steps.
If you own a digital copy of the game on Xbox, visit this Xbox support article for details on how to refund. If you own a digital copy on PlayStation, please wait for us to get back to you. For help with other Cyberpunk 2077-related matters, please visit our Technical Support website.
CD PROJEKT RED Team”
This email method to request a refund from CD Projekt Red ends December 21st, just a few short days before Christmas and when many gamers will likely receive Cyberpunk 2077 as a gift. While it may be easier to receive a refund for physical copies of the game from retailers, CD Projekt Red also advised disappointed fans to use this direct email method to receive a refund if their retailers failed to provide one.
CD Projekt Red’s refund promise is clearly rushed at best, and disingenuous damage control at worst. In an emergency board meeting held the same day the apology and refund promise were issued, the company had this to say:
“One has to understand: Microsoft and Sony have refund policies for every product that is released digitally on their storefronts. Despite several articles I’ve seen that things are being set up just for us, it’s actually not true – these policies are in place and have always been in place; they’re not offered specifically for us. Anyone who has purchased any title on the PlayStation network or the Microsoft storefront can ask for a refund, and if it’s made within certain boundaries, usually related to time, usage and so on, can ask for that refund. Our procedure here with Microsoft and Sony is not different than with any other title released on any of those storefronts. I want to state that clearly, as there seem to be certain misconceptions. In terms of financial participation, when our product is refunded, the share from the store that Microsoft took is refunded, and of course it’s something that is subtracted from the share of revenues that would normally be transmitted to CD PROJEKT. It’s, of course, not shared with us and is instead refunded to the given player – the given customer. I think that pretty much sums up the first one.”
You can read the whole transcript of the meeting here, but early on CD Projekt Red tells their board members that they are actually not encouraging their players to request a refund, and to instead wait on the promised patches. As it currently stands, PlayStation owners who bought a digital copy of Cyberpunk 2077 will have to sit tight for a couple of months, while Xbox owners should looking for a refund should continue to request one via Microsoft.
