CD Projekt shares tank on bad Cyberpunk console reviews, refund reports

CD Projekt's Cyberpunk 2077, the highly anticipated video game which debuted last week, is getting hit by negative user reviews for its console version, sending its shares tumbling and raising concerns over the game's success.

The company's shares were down 13% as of 1020 GMT, extending their losses from last week amid mixed reception of the game.

Cyberpunk, a futuristic role-playing game featuring Hollywood star Keanu Reeves, is rated an average of 2.8 out of 10 at a review aggregator website Metacritic for its version on Sony's PlayStation 4, while Microsoft's XBox One version has a score of 3.7.

Jefferies analysts have also pointed to reports of refunds offered by both Sony and Microsoft for digital purchases of the game.

The company said it would hold a call with analysts at 2 pm (1300 GMT) and offered no further comment.

Kacper Kopron, analyst at TRIGON DM brokerage, estimates sales of the game's version on older consoles could account for one-third of its total expected sales volumes over the game's life cycle.

CD Projekt should now focus on repairing its communication with the gamers, Kopron added.

Vladimir Bespalov from VTB Capital said the scores on consoles were "disappointing", but the game's better performance on platforms suggested redistribution of sales to next year and he kept his forecast of 33 million units sold by end 2021.

Cyberpunk took eight years to develop and its debut had been pushed back three times as the company kept working on optimising it for old and new consoles.

Its debut attracted huge interest among players and it had set a record on streaming platform Steam for concurrent players in a single game with over 1 million users.