CD Projekt plan to settle Cyberpunk 2077 lawsuit for $1.85 million
Paying out to investors, mind, not players
CD Projekt have announced plans to pay out $1,850,000 (£1.4 million) to settle a class action lawsuit brought by investors over Cyberpunk 2077's troubles. The suit started in December 2020 with investors primarily upset with the fact that the console version was in such a state, claiming that CDP hadn't been honest about the game and its prospects. CDP say that the proposed settlement terms make clear that though they are paying out, this "does not imply admission of any responsibility".
This lawsuit started as four separate actions brought by various investors and shareholders, which merged into one in May 2021. The lawyers behind the initial suit claimed CDP "made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose" its state. They said the game was "virtually unplayable" on Xbone and PS4, a condition which also caused Sony to remove the game from the PlayStation Store for six months, and harmed CDP's reputations and finances. Basically, they claimed that the company acted like the game was fine when it wasn't, so investors who bought in ahead of launch suffered financial damage.
CDP announced today they've tentatively agreed to a settlement which will see them pay $1.85 million (£1.4m). Everyone involved still needs to formalise an agreement then the court will need to approve that, but this could be over in a few months.
The company stress that this doesn't mean they're conceding responsibility. They say they're settling because fighting it in court could be long and expensive, because the lawyers think the settlement is okay, and because settling out of court is common in the US. They're not wrong. $1.85 million is a life-changing amount of money for a person but honestly not that much as a settlement for four class action suits against a large company whose game still sold over 13 million copies by the end of 2020.
Obvs, none of this means much of anything to people who bought a wonky game. All this money and sympathy is for investors and their insurers. Won't someone think of the poor investors? But it does mean an impending end to part of the story of a bungled launch which has (deservedly) dogged CDP for over a year.
Cyberpunk's next "major" update is due to launch in early 2022 alongside the next-gen console update. The game has seen a surge of positive reviews from players since being half-price in Black Friday sales, and CDPR's CEO recently said he thought it'd be perceived as a very good game in the long term. As someone who played over 100 hours at launch, ah, I liked a lot of it but patches and expansions still have a lot to do before my view of Cyberpunk 2077 is quite so positive.