Investor sues video game studio over buggy ‘Cyberpunk 2077’

Players have already expressed their disappointment in ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ perhaps the year’s most anticipated video game. Now, it’s investors’ turn.

An investor in CD Projekt, the studio behind ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ sued the company and its executives Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles, claiming that they hyped the game with false and misleading statements and cost him and other investors money.

The game suffers from “an enormous number of bugs,” the lawsuit says, echoing the complaints of players.

Eight million people pre-ordered copies of ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ a sci-fi game set in a futuristic fantasy city with movie star Keanu Reeves as the basis of one character. But many players quickly soured on the game after it shipped this month, noting a series of glitches and calling the development sloppy.

Sony and Microsoft offered refunds to players who bought the game through their PlayStation and Xbox online stores. Sony went so far as to pull the game from its store, shocking industry analysts.

The lawsuit filed by investor Andrew Trampe alleges that CD Projekt hyped the game and its stock price for months with a series of overly positive statements, such as one in January that said ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ was “complete and playable” at the time.

“Defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times,” the lawsuit says. It asks the court to recognize the suit as a class action on behalf of all similar investors.

CD Projekt, which is based in Warsaw, Poland, did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Shares in CD Projekt are down about 38 percent from early December, before the company released the game.

The company said it has sold more than 13 million copies of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ through Dec. 20, missing analyst forecasts, Reuters reported Tuesday.