Four class action lawsuits over Cyberpunk’s troubled launch are combining

Four class action lawsuits brought against CD Projekt over Cyberpunk 2077’s troubled launch have been consolidated.

The Witcher developer confirmed on Tuesday that a lead plaintiff has been appointed and following this consolidation, all four lawsuits will now be subject to potential common court proceedings.

The action is in relation to Cyberpunk 2077’s troubled launch, centred around criticism of the game’s performance on last-gen consoles and Cyberpunk’s removal from the PlayStation Store, which saw CD Projekt’s share price fall by 15% on December 18.

The lawsuits include at least two class actions from some of its own shareholders, who allege that CD Projekt violated federal laws by misleading investors over the quality of Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles, consequently causing them to incur damages.

According to the first lawsuit filed in December, CD Projekt made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that Cyberpunk 2077 was “virtually unplayable on the current-generation Xbox or PlayStation systems due to an enormous number of bugs.”

It goes on to state that issues with the console version caused “reputational and pecuniary harm” due to Sony’s decision to remove Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store, and other platform holders subsequently offering full refunds.

CD Projekt said “the content” of a second lawsuit brought against it in January “including its subject and scope, is the same” as the December class action.

In a statement responding to the class action in December, CD Projekt said it would “undertake vigorous action to defend itself against any such claims.”

Despite its difficulties, Cyberpunk 2077 has enjoyed a very successful launch in terms of sales, with its 13 million copies sold representing one of the strongest debuts ever for a premium game.

Since then the game has received a number of updates that have attempted to fix some of the game’s issues. A large 1.2 update released in late March made more than 500 changes to the game, including bug fixes, graphical upgrades and stability improvements.

CD Projekt has recently suggested that only a small percentage of Cyberpunk 2077 players claimed a refund via its official scheme in 2020.