The release of CD Projekt Red’s (CDPR) is highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be an even bigger mess, and buyers of the digital version of the game from Sony’s PlayStation Store may not have an easy way – or no path at all – to receive the refund the developer said they could.
Sony has not officially commented on whether players who purchased the game from the digital store are eligible for a refund. The company’s official policy is not to refund customers once they have started a game ‘unless the content is faulty’.
Now, one message from PlayStation Support to CNBC journalist Steve Kovach seems to further confirm that your only option in this scenario is to go to CDPR’s own helpline that has been opened specifically to address console refunds for the game. “CD Projekt Red is currently working on patches and updates to fix bugs and crashes and to improve Cyberpunk 2077’s overall gameplay experience,” reads the PlayStation Support message, implying that frustrated players on PS4 should just wait for the developer repaired the game.
Sony will not refund my Cyberpunk 2077 order, even after the game developer said buyers experiencing issues could get a refund. The game is literally crashing my PS4 and won’t play. Sony’s answer? Wait for the updates. pic.twitter.com/Zx2LSRhqqN
– Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) December 16, 2020
Sony did not respond to an official request for comment on its policy on yesterday Cyberpunk 2077 refunds. The edge contacted again for further clarification on this message from PlayStation Support.
For those who are not immersed in the Cyberpunk 2077 launch, let’s back up a bit. The game was released last Tuesday and it immediately became apparent that it was plagued with bugs and deep-seated performance issues that make the game an extremely frustrating experience on the standard PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. While it generally works well on PS5, Xbox Series X, PC and Stadia (although there are many bugs and crashes depending on your platform and your PC hardware and settings), the game isn’t well equipped to run with old and substandard hardware to go released in 2013.
In the wake of widespread criticism from social media and from game review sites, none of which were able to review the console versions of the game before the game launched, CDPR released a statement recommending players who want their money back from the console version of the game. Request a refund. The company said it would request a refund from Microsoft or Sony and email the developer as a last resort.
What CDPR didn’t say at the time was that it didn’t have an official refund policy with Microsoft, Sony, or other trading partners. The company’s executives only revealed this in a phone call to investors earlier this week, blaming surveillance and a fixation on the PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X / S versions of the game for the issues that the plague current generation platforms.
Microsoft has since released a statement advising players to follow the standard refund policy, which allows most players to get their money back if they request a refund within 14 days of purchase. Sony, on the other hand, does not have such a generous policy. And stores don’t have to pay refunds at all, since they’ve already purchased the inventory from the developer’s publishing partners.
Now, many players are stuck with their only recourse right now, manually contacting a CDPR email address to try and get their money back. According to Vice‘s Patrick Klepaksome customers receive an automatic message from the developer that they are likely to receive an update on their refund before the end of the year.
People are starting to get this answer back from CD Projekt RED, after emailing their “help” address for a refund. The language is interesting: it no longer tells you to request a refund from Sony. You have to wait. pic.twitter.com/Hb77SQ5teD
– Patrick Klepek (@patricklepek) December 16, 2020
In this new post that CDPR sends out, it advises players to seek refunds for Xbox digital versions of the game through Microsoft’s standard refund policy, which seems to work anecdotally for many players. But CDPR also seems to be subtly blaming Sony for not honoring refunds here, telling PlayStation players to “Wait until we get back to you.”
The situation is nothing short of a disaster for all parties involved, and it does not look like it will improve any time soon. CDPR is planning two major patches for January and February to fix bugs and improve performance across all platforms, which means the game should improve in due course. But until then, people who are disappointed with the game and want their money back will either have to be on the right platform to do so, or will have to wait to see if CDPR can somehow fix the situation.