Record sales, bad buzz, stock market crash ... The turbulent debut of Cyberpunk 2077

On Wednesday evening, Polish video game designer CD Projekt was valued at 9 billion euros on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

This Friday morning, the company is worth only 7.3 billion.

In the meantime, CD Projekt has released

globally

, one of the most anticipated games of 2020. And this launch has not quite gone as expected.

Read also: Cyberpunk 2077: CD Projekt, the video game heavyweight from Poland

Cyberpunk 2077

is available on PC as well as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.

The specialized media were able to test the very ambitious game before its release, but only on its PC version.

Restricting access to console versions is never a good sign ... The reviews, published Monday, were generally positive despite dissenting voices.

A "shameful" console version

The Doldrums are discovered Thursday, during the global release of

.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions are far, very far from the technical and graphic standards of these consoles.

"

", pings the site jeuxvideo.com, which recommends to its readers "

" to buy the game on these supports.

The Gamekult site points to console versions "

”.

Social networks find themselves invaded by catastrophic extracts.

The game performs better on the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles. Even better on PS5 and Xbox Series (via backward compatibility).

But

will not have versions that fully exploit the capabilities of next-gen consoles until 2021.

CD Projekt has a flattering reputation.

He created

, a production that has sold nearly 30 million copies since 2015 and is considered one of the best video games of the decade.

Revealed in 2018,

and its impressive promotional videos, distilled over the past two years, have made gamers around the world squeal with impatience.

Shareholders also salivated over this project.

The share of CD Projekt has soared by 50% since January, putting it neck and neck with the French Ubisoft.

Since April, the video game creator has become the number one stock exchange in Poland ahead of a bank and an oil company.

8 million pre-orders

Another proof of this appetite: CD Projekt revealed Thursday that 8 million people have pre-ordered

and therefore reserved it before its release on the sole faith of its promises.

This is an extremely high number for the video game industry.

Of these 8 million pre-orders, 59% concern the PC version, which is by far the most successful.

The latter exceeded the threshold of 50 million euros in income "

", specifies CD Projekt.

On social networks, people who had pre-ordered

on console indicate that they have canceled their reservation, or have requested a refund from their reseller.

Others have decided to take their troubles patiently while waiting for any corrective updates, or to be able to play it on a new generation console.

"

", proclaims jeuxvideo.com in its test of the game. But was the opposite even possible?

According to Polish bank BOS,

development budget

would be 270 million euros, not including marketing costs.

The studio has offered the services of American actor Keanu Reeves, who plays one of the main characters.

The very talkative game is dubbed into 10 languages ​​and fully subtitled in 18 languages, including Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Thai and Korean.

It is therefore difficult, in view of the sums invested, to miss the market of the 100 million PlayStation 4 sold in the world.