[UPDATE: In an emergency December 14 board meeting, publisher CD Projekt clarified the specifics of the Cyberpunk 2077 refund situation for console players, stating:
"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."
The original story continues below.]
Console players hyped to play Cyberpunk 2077 have seen their dreams crushed under the reality of the game's performance on older machines, and PlayStation 4 owners are now reportedly getting their money back by demanding refunds online. Now that the game's finally out, it's clear that the developer's ambitions far outweighed the power available in consoles manufactured in 2014. As such, the base PS4 and Xbox One can play Cyberpunk 2077, but it's in a state that's less than desirable.
Starting off the game, the PlayStation 4 is mostly able to deal with what the game presents, but vehicle sequences prove to be the first hurdle. There have been reports of drops to below 20 FPS in the early scripted driving sequence, as well as similar slowdowns when climbing into a car in the open-world. The game also suffers from slow texture pop-in, digital artifacts, and a reduced population of NPCs wandering around Night City compared to the superior PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions. Even the PlayStation 4 Pro can seemingly not run the game at its targeted 30 FPS without hiccups, so it's no surprise that the original PlayStation 4 suffers from all these problems.
As reported by VGC, those who purchased the game on Sony's last-gen hardware are now seeking refunds, and they seem to be securing them in many cases. After sitting for over an hour on hold with PlayStation support, Redditor NotBen_2 was able to get through and secure a refund after well over 10 hours of play. They also mentioned that several others were calling in about refunds and that Sony is issuing a "business complaint" to the developers at CDPR about the game's current state. For its part, the Cyberpunk 2077 team has already issued numerous patches for the game that make improvements across all platforms, but those fixes will likely prioritize the PC version and any bugs that players on more recent hardware are experiencing.
PSA: Sony is issuing refunds even past the 2 hour play time for digital games, if you file a refund claim and talk to a rep. from cyberpunkgame
Fans of Cyberpunk 2077 have not just sought out refunds for poor performance, but many have turned on the game for what they see as a falsely advertised and buggy product. The Metacritic user score for the PS4 and Xbox One releases are hovering around 3/10, and even the PC version is down to a 6.8 because of the launch issues. This messy release has even changed the minds of fans of other highly anticipated games like Grand Theft Auto VI, prompting them to speak out in favor of long, effective delays to avoid similarly disastrous launches in the future.
It's not hard to see why players of Cyberpunk 2077 hoping to jam through Night City on their six-year-old consoles are now upset, but it's also hard to really condemn CD Projekt Red over the whole situation. The Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are the ideal console platforms for a game of this scale, but they don't nearly have the market share to support a release of this magnitude. Support for older consoles meant support for all variants, a herculean task. After promising a release on these systems for years, CDPR had to deliver, even if the quality wasn't up to snuff. It's up to players to arm themselves with knowledge about what experience they want from their next full-priced AAA blockbusters, and increasingly multiplatform, multigenerational open world extravaganzas are ultimately as bad for customers as they are for overworked and underappreciated developers.
Next: Worst Cyberpunk 2077 Bugs & Glitches Reported So Far
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia, and it will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X in 2021.