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Cyberpunk 2077 cost CD Projekt's executives $1 billion thanks to its intensely buggy launch. The hotly anticipated dystopian RPG was in development for a whopping eight years, and after three delays it finally launched earlier this month. While reviews were positive, the extent of the game's flaws was quickly revealed post-launch. The last-gen versions of the game are borderline unplayable thanks to an immense profusion of glitches and bugs. The state of these versions is so poor that review aggregate OpenCritic posted its very first consumer warning advising players to approach these versions with caution.

The game's poor reception has reflected very badly on the developer. CD Projekt Red and its parent company CD Projekt have always stressed quality over quantity; the team only ever works on one game at a time. The lack of quality present in Cyberpunk 2077 has certainly had fans and investors alike casting doubt on this strategy, and the result has not been good for business. CDPR's stocks have fallen by 33% in the Polish market since the game hit shelves, and while that might not be as major as it looks for the company in the long run, it's still a strong indication of just how much faith the company has lost thanks to this dreadful launch.

And it also isn't the extent of CD Projekt's business struggles. Bloomberg reports that the company's executives have lost as much as $1 billion in wealth since the release of Cyberpunk 2077. The company has also been targeted by short sellers looking to profit off the game's bad reputation on the stock market. The company could be facing a much more direct loss of money thanks to game refunds. As an apology for all the bugs, CDPR offered refunds on all last-gen copies for players who didn't want to wait for the promised fixes. Unfortunately, it's been revealed that these refunds weren't actually cleared by Xbox and Sony, causing major complications for gamers who want to pursue them and possibly compelling CD Projekt to pay for the refunds out of pocket.

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It'll be hard for the company to recoup its losses while simultaneously struggling with its PR image like this. Fortunately, it's already taken one step in the right direction by promising bonuses to its overworked developers regardless of the game's Metacritic score, which previously needed to be 90 or higher. CDPR is infamous for its intolerable crunch conditions, working its developers to the bone in order to meet deadlines and not warning them ahead of time when these deadlines get delayed, which is what happened in November. Giving these developers the pay they deserve and taking ownership of the game's poor launch decisions is definitely a good first move.

It's surprising to see a developer fall from grace this quickly. CDPR used to be known for popular, high-quality games like The Witcher III, but this fiasco will certainly be what defines it for the foreseeable future. But surprising redemption stories aren't too uncommon in the video game industry; No Man's Sky is a good example of the fact that even the most ambitious titles can come back from a complete nosedive. Hopefully CD Projekt has learned from its mistakes and their serious financial ramifications, and is even now getting ready to bounce back.