What's worse than the lawsuit is the probably millions of gamers that bought their game on an inadequate device who may not do so in the future. They shot themselves in the foot for the future just for the present $
What's worse than the lawsuit is the probably millions of gamers that bought their game on an inadequate device who may not do so in the future. They shot themselves in the foot for the future just for the present $
Legally... I'm not sure what the damages would be. If anyone who bought the game under false pretenses, what could consumers sue for? I could potentially see other devs filing a lawsuit arguing that they had diminished coverage in gaming media based on cyberpunk hype, or that customers may have not purchased their game because they were holding out for Cyberpunk.
But as for consumers... I don't see the damage. And I am generally opposed to punitive damages except in very rare cases, as in if they are specifically statutory.
AAA studios need to be punished more for their BS. So sick of this industry coddling and enabling their BS.
I don’t know if being sued is really justified. Plenty of developers release games in crappier states then this all the time and nothing happens. Since this is a big release though, suddenly they deserve to be sued? It’s not going to amount to anything.
The real damage is going to be to their reputation. CPR was one of the most revered studios out there with some amazing technological accomplishments. Witcher 3 was an early gen game and still one of the best looking games available. Sadly, they will lose that respect and will be under more scrutiny in the future. That is their punishment and that is enough.
Ka-pi96 said:
It's neither consumers nor other devs. Although other devs suing because Cyberpunk had too much hype would be pretty ridiculous. It's investors suing due to the hit to the stock price. Which is also a pretty pathetic reason to sue since they probably released the game in it's current state since investors were complaining about delays in the first place. They made their bed, now they should lie in it. |
Ah. Well then I stand corrected. Serves me right for not reading the article.
But, nah, that's actually a really legitimate lawsuit to the point that I'd be shocked it it isn't settled quickly. Withholding relevant information from shareholders is absolutely illegal. If the stockholders were being assholes that doesn't change things.
Has to be pointed out though that the investors are not exactly suing. Rather, CDPR the company itself is suing someone, presumably the board of directors.
Ka-pi96 said:
It's neither consumers nor other devs. Although other devs suing because Cyberpunk had too much hype would be pretty ridiculous. It's investors suing due to the hit to the stock price. Which is also a pretty pathetic reason to sue since they probably released the game in it's current state since investors were complaining about delays in the first place. They made their bed, now they should lie in it. |
Erm, they're suing for being lied to. Investors were told the game was in a playable state back in Januari. The state the game was actually in was also held back from investors. You can lie to your fan base, yet lying to investors can become actionable. The fact that Sony pulled Cyberpunk from PSN is proof the game was not in a playable state.
CDPR shot themselves in the foot by telling people they could get refunds without discussing with Sony first. Sony got flooded with refund requests and doesn't want to make an exception for a functioning game, opening the flood gates for more and more refund requests. Hence Sony delisted the game, declaring it unfit for sale, thus being able to refund the game without having to change their 'no refund' policy. Investors see this as proof the game was not in a playable state, thus they were lied to by CDPR.
One could say they never had a chance to deliver on something that was so hyped and anticipated, but then I look at FFVII Remake and see it's actually possible to dliver and then some.
So yeah, fuck them.
If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.
I'm just glad CDPR let their true colors show, I know not to trust them in the future! I play on a high end PC and Cyberpunk is still one of the biggest disappointments in the last ten years. So many broken promises...
Releasing with bugs? Ok, it happens to everyone
Releasing with non functional AI? Ok, it just means it is a bad product in this area
Releasing with non consistent frame rate? Ok, happens to most open world games, like GTA4 and GTA5 on PS3.
...
Releasing with such a bad performance and bugs that the game is actually non playable on base consoles (at least on release) and lying about the state of the game on those platforms where most of the sales would come from, hiding the game from investors and the public to, on purpose, trick people thinking it was alright? That's just absolutely horrible. They should have been clear to investors and the public that, yes, it would take more time to polish it as base versions were not on par to what they expected. Stock would shrink but that would be temporary and no harm would be caused except for the studio executives. Which would be temporary.
I get what they said, that they thought they would be able to put the game on a playable state through a day 1 patch but in the end they failed to do so. And to be fair, a lot of optimization has already happened since release. But it was a gamble and they should never have chosen this path.
Investors were putting the pressure to release? Too bad, thats your choice when you decided to go public. Seriously, some companies should avoid going public and just stay as private.
It’ll blow over. They made so much money even after refunds they can settle before it hits court and still be ok. The game will be largely fixed in the next months that by spring this will all be a memory. Cyberpunk will essentially make a comeback like games before. Halo MCC, No Mans Sky, etc.