In relation to the contentious release of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt and its investors reached a $1.85 million settlement, which a Californian court has now accepted.
If that seems familiar, it’s because this same $1.85 million settlement was made public back in December 2021. (opens in new tab). According to Law360 (via PCGamesN), the problem is that US District Judge Fernando M. Olguin declined approval of the settlement in April, stating that the draught “includes a lot of material that is not in your petition and is not supported by a statement or other papers.” Within a few weeks, a new settlement was delivered.
The organisation representing the investors, CD Projekt, and Rosen Law Firm, will have to obtain clearance again by April 28, ahead of a fairness hearing on June 1.
In December 2020, not long after the game’s debut, this complaint was filed. Investors sued CD Projekt over the status of Cyberpunk 2077 at launch, claiming that the game was “nearly unplayable on the current-generation Xbox or Playstation consoles owing to an immense number of defects” and that CD Projekt’s promises about the game were deceptive regarding its final quality.
All of this is to imply that the wheels of legal administration spin exceptionally slowly, something we’ll be reminded of as the inquiry into Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard continues.
Of course, this agreement might fall apart once it receives official clearance. Still, for the time being, its resolution seems to be occurring in tandem with a larger shift in public opinion on Cyberpunk 2077. It’s received a slew of significant improvements in the last two years and a spike of fresh interest courtesy of the fantastic Edgerunners anime, which premiered in 2022. With Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, maybe the eventual GOTY Edition won’t seem quite so forced.
