Earlier this week, CD Projekt Red released a lengthy statement acknowledging that many console players were angry with the game and seemed to be offering refunds to any console gamer unhappy with the title.
Today, the company has taken it all back, blaming gamers for ‘misconceptions’. The SVP of Business Development Michal Nowakowski stated that the only refund CDPR refers to the various refund policies offered by Microsoft and Sony. He’s pretty clear about it. It’s also all your fault for thinking CDPR would refund their game in the first place.
Anyone who has purchased a title on the PlayStation network or Microsoft store can request a refund, and if it was made within certain limits, usually related to time, usage, and so on, that refund can be requested. Our procedure here with Microsoft and Sony is no different than with any other title released on any of these storefronts. I want to make that clear, as there seem to be certain misconceptions.
One small point I would like to draw your attention to: Nowakowski didn’t really describe Sony’s refund policy. Not really. Anyone can request a refund, but they almost certainly won’t. Sony will only refund your money if you request a refund within 14 days and have not downloaded the game. Microsoft would be more forgiving on this matter, but the company’s documentation only states that “we take into account a number of factors, such as time since date of purchase, time since release, and use of the product.”
Regardless, the PS4 outperformed the Xbox by at least 2: 1 of the last generation, meaning the vast majority of console players play the game on the PS4. The above note is not an accurate description of Sony’s returns policy. It’s a description that would fit the PC world perfectly, however, and you may wonder if there aren’t any particular misconceptions about the difference between PCs and consoles floating in the halls of CD Projekt Red.
‘Certain Misconceptions’
Let’s take a look at CDPR’s original statement on this topic:
We would appreciate if you would give us a shot, but if you are not satisfied with the game on your console and don’t want to wait for updates, you can choose to refund your copy. For copies purchased digitally, use the refund system of PSN or Xbox respectively. For boxed versions, try to get a refund first from the store where you bought the game. If this is not possible, please contact us at [email protected] and we will do our best to assist you.
There are several explicit reasons for thinking that CDPR was referring to a specific discount program, not the platform-wide options offered by Microsoft and Sony. First, it is absolutely out of the question. CDPR may have written, “Customers who have purchased digital copies of the game can request a refund if they meet the criteria set by Sony and Microsoft.” It wasn’t. In addition, the company made this statement in a message explaining what CDPR was going to do to resolve these issues. CD Projekt Red is the active entity in its own press release.
Second, there is an explicit reference to in-box software that can be returned. If there is a store in the United States where people can return open software for a full refund, I don’t know. Most retailers explicitly allow a refund for software only if the product is sealed in its original shrink wrap. This is well known. CDPR’s statement that customers should try to return the game to the store where they bought it further implies that some sort of special program is being introduced.
When they say, “Please first try to get your money back from the store where you bought the game ”, this means that if this fails, another refund program is available to deal with this. Why would you say ‘first’ if there is no second option? To be clear, CDPR’s comments to investors pertain specifically to digital purchases, but if the company doesn’t intend to deal with those refunds, it probably doesn’t intend to deal with the bigger headache of validating personal purchases from different stories for refunds.
Third, using the phrase “you can choose to refund your copy”. This wording indicates that you, the purchaser, decide whether or not to receive a refund, and not Sony or Microsoft. Sony and Microsoft don’t reward refunds as widely as Steam. In the absence of a specific program to handle this mess, CDPR is actually lying to its own player base by omission. Sony will only issue refunds if you have never downloaded the game. Considering this, it power have been helpful in telling the PS4 player base not to even download the title if there’s a chance they want a refund for it.
Finally the company literally chose to call the handy email address “help me refund” (spaces set back to make reading easier). Consider how absurd it is to offer any kind of refund assistance to customers on the one hand, while telling investors that the problem is entirely in the hands of Sony and Microsoft on the other.
CD Projekt Red throws every console customer under the bus after deliberately hiding the performance and quality of their product. According to CDPR, anyone who saw that the company would in fact take some hand to clean up its own mess suffers from “misconceptions.”
Well, they are right. And I want to apologize.
I was completely wrong. I thought CDPR was acting with the least responsibility for its own debacle. I thought the company was going to work with the group of unhappy customers who bothered to request a discount, then claimed it had “solved” the human-caused problem by making people whole. It did not occur to me that a company could assure its fans that they could request a refund without a single mention that they would have nothing to do with the process and that most people would not meet the criteria to get one .
I apologize to all ExtremeTech readers for my assumption that everyone in the higher echelons of CD Projekt Red had ethics. I’m sorry to assume they took on minimal responsibility. I’m sorry I thought they would treat customers with respect, or because I believe the company was more motivated than a “F *** you, I’ve got mine” attitude. When people show you who they are, believe them. CDPR showed what kind of company it was when they hid information about how bad the PS4 and Xbox One were in the first place.
Thanks, CDPR, for correcting my misconceptions.
I will not make the same mistakes again. You have my word.
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