Cyberpunk 2077 - To Refund or Not to Refund

A few days ago I decided to go back to Valhalla and wait a few weeks for some updates to Cyberpunk 2077. I am confident that CD Projekt Red will be able to address many of the console issues. The news that Sony had pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from their store caused quite a debate in my household last night. I am not the original purchaser of the game so requesting a refund is not up to me but I am kind of upset. It seems like a really good game and to be honest I was a little bored with Valhalla. We can always repurchase Cyberpunk 2077 but I am quite willing to give the devs a chance to improve the PS4 version.

I know I complained about user interface design but it's probably easier to view on a high resolution PC monitor than a 1080p television set.  Or maybe I'm just old. My favourite web design reference site used to be "Web Pages that Suck" which unfortunately has been archived. It's a visual horror show that mostly illustrates what not to do and I retained those lessons.

Many of the criticisms lodged against Cyberpunk 2077 could be lodged against Valhalla as well. It crashes and has ridiculous glitches and quest bugs. Since the last update, I have been afflicted by the fast travel glitch.  However, Valhalla looks acceptable on console. You only need to go into photo mode to see what I mean by just acceptable. Cyan also gets used in Valhalla but in varying shades that are not quite as bright. Text is white on darker shades. There is very sparing use of red. But Valhalla's menus leave something to be desired as well. At least Cyberpunk 2077 lets you sort and filter.

CD Projekt Red's marketing strategy is a whole different matter and it seems the company is currently learning some extremely painful lessons. I wish them the best. I want to encourage publishers to take risks. I have seen so many games improve over time. If players abandon them, then so do the publishers. 

The situation is so much better now than pre internet. Games just got released. If you were lucky there was a user manual and a customer service number to call. We actually did call Sierra long distance once with stupid questions and got answers. Otherwise you could write a letter. I got a really nice letter from Microsoft once regarding their Works application. The solution to my problems was purchasing more software of course but still, it was nice to get a response. 

Great games just disappeared off the shelf after sales no longer covered distribution costs. If your game broke, it broke. And there have always been bugs and glitches. I don't think I ever bothered asking for my money back. It just seemed too inconvenient. And I learned to save, save, save.

I find modern games so amazing in comparison to the early days that I tend to be fairly tolerant but I can certainly understand that Cyberpunk 2077 is just unplayable for some console users. One fact has remained consistent from the start of the computer age. Hardware lags software.

Update 02/02/21: Did not refund. Waiting for February patch.