Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has reported that a second class action lawsuit has been filed against it. Once again, the lawsuit has been filed from the USA, and seeks to recover capital for investors based on the grounds that CDPR had misled them regarding the extent to which the game was finished prior to launch.
According to CDPR’s report, the content of this new lawsuit is the same as the one that was filed in December 2020 by New York-based Rosen Law Firm.
Cyberpunk 2077 has been plagued by bugs and other performance issues – predominantly on last-gen consoles – since its release. However, whether or not the claims that CDPR had deliberately misled investors are substantial enough remains to be seen. Writing for The Escapist, Adam Adler – himself a trained lawyer – states the claim “seems fairly weak”, citing CDPR’s own admissions of fault in underestimating the scale of the project as a more suitable counter-narrative.
Last week, CDPR co-founder Marcin Iwiński released a video statement further apologising for Cyberpunk’s performance issues. “Our testing did not show a big part of the issues you experienced while playing the game,” he claims. “As we got closer to the final release, we saw significant improvements each and every day, and we really believed we would deliver in the final Day Zero update.” This statement remains consistent with the idea that CDPR had ultimately underestimated the scale of its task, and did not foresee the result being so disastrous.
Dear gamers,
Below, you’ll find CD PROJEKT’s co-founder’s personal explanation of what the days leading up to the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 looked like, sharing the studio’s perspective on what happened with the game on old-generation consoles. pic.twitter.com/XjdCKizewq— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) January 13, 2021
It is unlikely that this will be the last suit we see filed against CDPR, which has also recently come under investigation from Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). Although the studio remains committed to bringing the last-gen experience up to scratch, this may not be enough to save it from further disputes.