CD Projekt Red Admits It Didn't Spend Enough Time On Cyberpunk 2077 For PS4/Xbox One

The controversy surrounding the buggy and broken PS4 and Xbox One versions of Cyberpunk 2077 has continued to dominate headlines over the past few days. Now, developer CD Projekt Red has stated that it focused too much on the PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X / Series S versions of the game, which resulted in "not enough time" being spent on the previous-gen versions. [Update: Sony has now removed Cyberpunk 2077 from PSN and will offer refunds.]

"It's more about us looking--as was previously stated--at the PC and next-gen performance rather than current-gen. We definitely did not spend enough time looking at that," a portion of the transcript reads. "Come January and February you’re going to see larger improvements--which we’ve stated already. We have also stated that if your expectation is that the game is going to be equal to, say, next-gen or PC in terms of performance, that definitely isn’t going to happen. Having said that, I’m not saying it’s going to be a bad game--but if you’re expectations regarding, say, visuals or other performance angle, are like this, then we’re openly stating that’s not going to be the case."

Responding to a question about the certification process that console games go through before release, the CD Projekt Red representative (joint CEO Marcin Iwiński) stated that he "can only assume" that Sony and Microsoft "trusted that we're going to fix things upon release, and that obviously did not come together exactly as we had planned." Some industry figures have called this a subtle attempt to shift blame to the console manufacturers, noting that the certification process has nothing to do with quality. "The game functions," journalist and consultant Mike Futter wrote in response. "It hooks into achievements and trophies. It has the right button icons. Cert and FQA are not about meeting a quality bar."

Previously in the same Q&A, CD Projekt Red stated that it does not have any sort of special agreement with Sony or Microsoft for refunds, urging aggrieved fans to utilize the existing refund policies of these platforms if they are unhappy with Cyberpunk 2077. Players have reported mixed success in obtaining refunds for their digital copies, and physical copies are a completely different story. Check out our Cyberpunk refund guide for details.