You don’t have to stick with Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red’s latest open-world escapade released last week to a raucous mix of fanfare and criticism, with much of the ire rooted in how poorly the game runs on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One — and how CDPR hid those versions from players and reviewers until launch. If you’re among those who’d prefer to jump ship — away from the game’s litany of bugs and baggage — you can request a refund for your console copy of the game. The development studio confirmed as much in a tweet today.
Those who purchased the game digitally on Xbox One can request a refund directly through Microsoft’s Xbox support page. Once you sign in, that page should show a list of purchases made on your account. But — and this shouldn’t come as a surprise — it’s a bit wonky. If a line item for Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t showing up, and if you have your order number on hand, you can manually fill out a refund request form here. (Note: That link will prompt you to sign into your Microsoft account.) Microsoft’s terms of service limit refunds after 14 days from the date of purchases.
On PlayStation, you also have to request your refund within 14 days. As with Xbox digital games, you can do it directly through Sony’s PlayStation support site. Pretty much all roads here lead to — I’m so sorry — a chatbot, which will walk you through the process and eventually connect you to a real human with real thoughts and real feelings and real lived history. PlayStation’s cancellation policy states that you can get a refund for any game purchased within 14 days, so long as you haven’t started downloading it. There’s an exception for “content” that “is faulty.” (Kotaku reached out to Sony to clarify whether or not Cyberpunk 2077 is “faulty.”) Some users report getting their money back after calling Sony’s U.S. hotline.
Cyberpunk 2077 is playable on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility, where it both looks prettier and runs better than it does on last-gen machines. New-gen versions are planned for an unspecified date in the future. For now, no matter what console you’re playing on, you’re playing the PS4 or Xbox One version of the game — the one many people are dissatisfied with. Since both of these refund methods are done through a browser, rather than directly on your console, there’s no apparent reason your console of choice should prevent you from receiving a refund.
Where things get muddy is with brick-and-mortar retailers. If you picked up a boxed copy of the game, CD Projekt Red says to first head back to the store you made the purchase at and request a refund there first. OK. Sure. Let’s say you throw a mask on and head back to your local EB Games. After some back-and-forth and some requisite puppy-dog eyes, the customer service employee you speak to still says what amounts to, “LOL nope.” Now what?
In that instance or any like it, CD Projekt Red says to reach out directly by emailing helpmerefund [at] cdprojektred [dot] com, where the company will “do our best to help you.” The email address will be open until December 21. It’s unclear what “our best” means, and if CD Projekt Red will be able to circumvent the specific stated policies of retailers.
Kotaku reached out to CD Projekt Red about how it would issue refunds to such SOL gamers. At press time, the company had not responded. On Friday, CD Projekt Red announced the company had already recouped development costs for Cyberpunk 2077, one day after the game was officially released.
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