CD Projekt could face investor legal action over Cyberpunk ‘misrepresentation’

CD Projekt is facing potential class action lawsuits over its alleged misrepresentation of Cyberpunk 2077.

As reported by the New York times, one Warsaw-based law firm and CD Projekt investor has announced it’s analysing grounds for legal action on the basis of “misrepresentation in order to obtain financial benefits”.

It said its investigation was related to “recent events” and particularly Cyberpunk’s removal from the PlayStation Store, which saw CD Projekt’s share price fall by 15% on December 18.

Sony announced the unexpected move on Friday, following a turbulent week for CD Projekt Red centred around criticism of Cyberpunk 2077’s performance on last-gen consoles.

Cyberpunk 2077’s troubled launch has resulted in CD Projekt shares tumbling over the past week and wiping over $1 billion off the wealth of the company’s founders.

A second, New York-based law firm has also announced an investigation into the Cyberpunk developer.

Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP said on Friday it was looking into potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of CD Projekt, “resulting from allegations that CD Projekt may have issued materially misleading information to their shareholders and investing public.”

It said: “If you have incurred losses in the ADR’s of CD Projekt SA, please contact Wolf Haldenstein to learn more about your rights as an investor in CD Projekt SA.”

According to a law firm specialised in video games, CD Projekt could be accused of employment of “manipulative and deceptive practices.”

According to SEC rule 10b-5, it is unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, “to engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates… as a fraud or deceit upon any person, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security.”

Speaking to investors this week, CD Projekt’s joint-CEO Adam Kiciński apologised for Cyberpunk 2077’s console issues and said that the company hoped to rebuild the trust of its fanbase.

“After 3 delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game,” he said. “We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles.

“It was the wrong approach and against our business philosophy. On top of that, during the campaign, we showed the game mostly on PCs. This caused the loss of gamers’ trust and the reputation that we’ve been building through a big part of our lives.

“That’s why our first steps are solely focused on regaining those two things. We are concentrated on fixing Cyberpunk on last-gen consoles… We will do everything possible to prove that we stick to our values. We truly hope that our efforts will let us rebuild the trust we have lost.”

Further reading

Q&A: CD Projekt on how it’s fixing Cyberpunk 2077

Full transcript of CD Projekt’s emergency web call covers last-gen, future plans and more