Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red admitted the performance problems plaguing the game on last-gen base consoles and apologized for not showing the game running prior to its release on the original PS4 and Xbox One. “In a notice released on Twitter, “We should have paid more attention to making it perform better on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The developer said that with a series of updates to be published over the coming months, it “aims to address the most prominent issues,” but added that anyone who doesn’t want to wait can return their copy of the game.
The declaration follows several posts about how badly the game on the older machines plays. Choppy frame rates, odd physics, texture pop-in, and screen tearing have been recorded by players.
Its gameplay has quickly become a meme online, Polygon reports, and videos, and screenshots of the issues that the users face while playing.
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 14, 2020
CD Projekt Red provided most critics with the PC version of the game, and obviously did not include console versions of the game, meaning these performance issues only gained widespread attention after the release of the game. CD Projekt Red Joint-CEO Adam Kaciński also said in an investor call last month that the game runs remarkably well on last-base gen’s hardware.
We tested the game on the PC, and while we found it to be buggy, we didn’t see any of the more serious issues mentioned by players on PS4 and Xbox One. CD Projekt Red apologized for not displaying the game on last-gen consoles prior to its release and as a result, for not allowing them to make a more thorough buying decision.
The developer promises that the performance issues will be resolved by a host of patches, beginning with another round of updates that will be released in the next seven days. CD Projekt Red plans to release a pair of major patches in January and February and say it should address the most popular issues gamers face on last-gen consoles.
It warns, however, that they won’t make the last-gen game look like it’s running on a high-spec PC or next-gen console, but it’s going to be closer than it is now to that experience.
It says that the game’s PC version will also receive daily updates and fixes. There’s even an updated version of the game’s next-gen console on the way, but there’s no news on when exactly that’s coming.
Despite all this, they still decide to issue refunds to the people who didn’t want anything to do with the game anymore.
Digital transactions can be returned through the respective refund programs of Sony and Microsoft (IGN states that many consumers have already successfully recorded claiming refunds through these mechanisms, which is typically not feasible in cases such as this and it says players can try to return packaged copies of the game to wherever they purchased it.)
For the next week, it has set up a dedicated email address for players to contact if they have problems returning their copies.