Cyberpunk 2077 Removed From PS Store, Sony and Microsoft Issuing Refunds

Update: 12/18/20 (12 p.m. EST)

Microsoft has officially confirmed via the Xbox Support Twitter account that they are offering refunds for Cyberpunk 2077. According to many reports, the company had been issuing refunds for the game this week under their broader return policy.

The new statement says Microsoft is “expanding our existing refund policy to offer full refunds to anyone who purchased Cyberpunk 2077 digitally on the Microsoft Store.”

According to Reuters, CD Projekt Red said that there have been no discussions between the developer and Microsoft to pull Cyberpunk 2077 from the Microsoft Store at this time. 

Adam Kicinski, CDPR’s CEO, said, “We are not in such discussions with Microsoft at the moment.” 

The news comes alongside a CNBC report that stated CDPR shares had taken a hit on Friday following the game’s removal from the PlayStation Store. 

Update: 12/18/20 (12 a.m. EST)

The CD Projekt Red Management Board has released a statement regarding the removal of Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store. 

The Management Board of CD PROJEKT SA with its seat in Warsaw (hereinafter the “Company”) publishes the decision of Sony Interactive Entertainment (hereinafter “SIE”) to remove the digital version of Cyberpunk 2077 from sale from PlayStation Store until further notice. The decision was made after the Company’s consultations with SIE representatives regarding the possibility of returning the game to people who purchased it in a digital version via PlayStation Store and would like to return it. 

All digital copies of the game sold so far via PlayStation Store remain available for use by existing buyers. Players can invariably purchase a boxed version of the game direct or mail order. Both digital and physical copies of the game will be continuously supported and will receive future updates from the Company.

The Management Board of the Company decided to publish the above-mentioned information in the form of a current report due to the potential importance of this information for investors’ investment decisions.

Original story: 

Cyberpunk 2077 has been removed from the PlayStation Store, and Sony has confirmed it is providing refunds to anyone who purchased the game digitally on the storefront. The news came directly from Sony by way of a statement on PlayStation.com and posted to the Ask PlayStation Twitter account. 

Sony said that they removed Cyberpunk 2077 “until further notice” and did not elaborate on when the game might be back up on the store for purchase. 

The statement in full reads: 

SIE strives to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, therefore we will begin to offer a full refund for all gamers who have purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store. SIE will also be removing Cyberpunk 2077 from PlayStation Store until further notice.

Once we have confirmed that you purchased Cyberpunk 2077 via PlayStation Store, we will begin processing your refund.  Please note that completion of the refund may vary based on your payment method and financial institution.

If you are seeking a refund for the game, you can do so by clicking the button at the bottom of this page, which asks you to sign in to your PlayStation account before submitting a request.

At the time of writing, the page does not properly refresh after logging in, sending users to a 404 page instead. Sony is aware of the issue and is working to fix it. If you receive an error, simply go back to the page linked above (manually refreshing does not work). Click the button at the bottom to submit your refund request. 

Sony has not clarified how long the review and refund process may take, but it is very likely on a case by case basis. 

Searching for Cyberpunk 2077 on both the web-based PlayStation Store and the app for PS4 and PS5 yields no results for Cyberpunk 2077. The screenshot above was taken from the PlayStation website and cites that Cyberpunk 2077 has been “announced” and with it’s PlayStation Store “release date to be determined.” 

The move from Sony comes after a week of controversy surrounding CD Projekt Red’s long-awaited RPG. Plagued by bugs, glitches, and crashes, the last-gen console versions of Cyberpunk 2077 have been completely unplayable for some, something especially true on base-model PlayStation 4s and Xbox Ones.

It hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for all PC players or those on next-gen consoles, as evidenced by some posts in the game’s Steam forum, Reddit, and social media sites like Twitter. But the experience there, as well as on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, is drastically better than that on base last-gen consoles. That’s not to mention the Stadia version seems to be a relative home run, all things considered. 

CD Projekt Red issued an apology for the state of Cyberpunk 2077 on December 14, promising to fix the game’s issues and “improve the overall experience” before detailing that some updates had already been released and that more would be coming in December, January, and February.

The developer also urged those dissatisfied with the game to “give us a chance, but if you are not pleased with the game on your console and don’t want to wait for updates, you can opt to refund your copy.” CDPR then pointed players to “PSN and Xbox” and provided a proprietary email ([email protected]) set up to “help” players who may not receive a refund from either storefront. 

Following the statement from CDPR on Monday, reports quickly swirled that receiving refunds through Sony and Microsoft was unsurprisingly hit and miss, as both companies have specific refund policies in place regarding when and why refunds for digital purchases can be issued. In an emergency investors call on December 15, CDPR admitted they had not agreed to special terms with either Sony or Microsoft regarding refunds. 

As of this writing, Cyberpunk 2077 is still live on the Microsoft Store. It is unclear if Microsoft will follow Sony’s lead and pull the game or instate a special refund policy. Microsoft’s current digital refund policy is very similar to Sony’s, though seemingly a bit more flexible, and states:

All sales of Digital Game Products are considered final, but we understand there may be extenuating circumstances. When you request a refund for these products, and depending on the purchase or content type in determining refund eligibility, we consider a variety of factors like time since date of purchase, time since release, and use of the product.

According to a Vice report, it appears that even physical copies of Cyberpunk 2077 aren’t easy to return currently. An internal GameStop memo obtained by the publication said that customers should contact CD Projekt Red for refunds via the email (above) provided by CDPR. 

Stay tuned.