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Technical failures affecting CD Projekt SA Cyberpunk 2077 game have cut more than US $ 1 billion (RM4.05 million) from the wealth of the company’s founders. Perhaps most seriously, the quality image of the study has been altered and may not be easy to recover.
Shares of CD Projekt plummeted by a third in the past six days as the number of bugs plaguing the long-awaited futuristic game prompted an apology from the company and a refund offer from players on previous generation consoles. . Short sellers have also started targeting stocks, with short interest rising from less than 1% of free float in September to 8.3% on Monday, according to data from Markit.
The story of the college dropouts who built one of Europe’s largest gaming studios has inspired other Poles to try to emulate them, flooding the Warsaw Stock Exchange with similar offerings. The 34% joint share of the founders was valued at around US $ 3 billion (RM12.16 billion) over Tuesday’s market value.
The three executives, Marcin Iwinski, Adam Kicinski and Piotr Nielubowicz, along with a fourth major owner, Michal Kicinski, have joined the ranks of the wealthiest Poles thanks to a stellar rally in CD Projekt shares. However, they now face a fight to salvage the studio’s reputation and prove that Cyberpunk It will also be playable for owners of older generation consoles, which are much more common than new ones.
“Now there is a huge scar on the reputation of both the studio and its management,” said Tomasz Rodak, an analyst at BOS Bank SA in an email. “In just a couple of days, CD Projekt went from the most loved studio to the most hated. Restoring trust is not impossible, but it would take a lot of time and effort. “
Estimate cuts
Analysts vary in their assessment of the lasting consequences for the study, which largely depends on the new title. They agree that the pace of bug fixes will be crucial to revenue, even when opinions on the PC version look much better. The average forecast for 12-month sales fell to 25.6 million copies from nearly 30 million copies expected before the December 10 release, according to nine updated estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. The stock halted its free fall on Tuesday, rising 2.5% at 2.02pm in Warsaw.
The problems are particularly acute on older-generation consoles, Sony Corp’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Corp’s Xbox One, with reports indicating that the game engine is malfunctioning on weaker machines.
“If your only option now is to play Cyberpunk 2077 on any of the base console platforms, I suggest you not play until your terrible performance issues are fixed, ”said the popular gaming website IGN, recommending that players request a refund. The site separated its mostly positive PC review from the negative evaluation of the console version, saying it’s “a completely different game.”
Brokers like Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc now predict that a multiplayer component of CyberpunkCrucial to long-term sales, it may take longer to prepare. The studio plans to release a strategy update in the first quarter of 2021. – Bloomberg
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