Cyberpunk 2077’s PlayStation Store Notice Is An Admittance Of Failure

Six months after release, Cyberpunk 2077 is still very much a work in progress. The game released in December riddled with bugs and frequent crashes, making Cyberpunk’s notorious launch the biggest gaming controversy in recent memory. CD Projekt RED’s latest title is technically a last-gen game, being listed for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, but the console version performs noticeably better on the PS5 and Xbox Series X through backward compatibility.

The state of Cyberpunk 2077 was so bad on launch that CD Projekt RED offered refunds for the game without providing notice to Sony and Microsoft, prompting Sony to remove it from the PlayStation Store entirely. Since then, the developers have been diligently working on squashing the bugs in Cyberpunk, but the progress has been slow. What was once one of the most anticipated new games is now a testament to what development crunch and a rushed release can do to destroy any goodwill customers have toward a studio. Just recently Cyberpunk 2077 returned to the PlayStation Store, now with a warning for any prospective buyers, which reads like an admittance that development for last-gen consoles was a failure.

Right at the top of the PlayStation Store’s description for Cyberpunk, it reads, “IMPORTANT NOTICE: Users continue to experience performance issues with this game. Purchase for use on PS4 systems is not recommended. For the best Cyberpunk experience on PlayStation, play on PS4 Pro and PS5 systems.” This doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in anyone hoping Cyberpunk‘s major issues have been worked out. Instead, it gives the impression that CD Projekt RED is all but abandoning the last-gen version of the game.

Could CD Projekt Red Abandon Cyberpunk On Old Consoles?

It’s safe to say the vision for Cyberpunk 2077 was a bit too ambitious, especially for hardware that was seven years old when the game released. The final product is a serviceable game on its own merits if the bugs can be ignored, but bugs and crashes still seem to be problematic factors on the base PS4. CD Projekt RED has repeatedly re-committed to improving the game, but the somewhat vague Cyberpunk 2077 roadmap doesn’t give a lot of specifics.

The worst case scenario would be that this PlayStation Store warning comes from CDPR itself as a final sigh of “well, we tried,” with the studio turning its attention to polishing the next-gen version, quietly letting the PS4 version go on hospice. It’s unlikely further development for it will completely cease soon, but any impression that CDPR might be giving up would only cause more trouble.

The other possibility is that the warning on the PlayStation Store is more of a direct message born out of Sony’s loss of confidence in the product – or perhaps is just Sony trying to cover its bases. Since there’s only one version of the game for Sony’s consoles, it might be that putting the liability on the consumer seemed like its best option. The situation feels rather bleak in either case, and while its certainly possible to read too much into a digital storefront notice, the current track record for Cyberpunk 2077 begs pessimism. The notice is in no way a good sign for consumers in any case. It seems to contradict prior indications that the game wouldn’t be brought back to the store until it was in working order, making its necessity a tacit admission of failure, whatever the PS4 version of the game may look like in the coming months.

Source: PlayStation

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