The UK chart gets Cyberpunk’d

The past week has been turbulent for Cyberpunk 2077, ergo developer CD Projekt. The PC version arrived to positive reviews last Monday, seemingly confirming that it’s a game worthy of the hype, if a little formulaic in places. Monday also saw a GameSpot reviewer ridiculed for their 7/10 review score; a score which was justified in the review itself. Ho-hum.

In the days that followed, the Cyberpunk hype train was still full throttle, and this was despite some gamers questioning why reviewers hadn’t been given access to the console iterations.

By midweek footage of the console versions started to appear online, and it soon became apparent that CD Projekt had been keeping these iterations away from the press. Glitchy to the point of being unplayable, memes spread across social media. Many felt that the PS4 version, reportedly the most broken, shouldn’t have been released at all.

Over the weekend news broke that Sony has started to issue refunds. This was followed by an official statement from CD Projekt today, apologising for a lack of transparency.

Patches are coming, but many gamers feel as if the damage has already been done – CD Projekt dropped a clanger on fans who’ve waited for over eight years. We should probably note that the high-end PC players are able to experience something closer to what was previously shown; it’s PS4 and Xbox One owners who are the most disappointed.

The Metacritic user score currently stands at 2.9, while just two critical reviews are available – including a lowly 7/20 (35%) from JeuxVideo.

This brings us onto this week’s UK chart – Cyberpunk 2077 has taken the top spot, which isn’t much of a surprise given pre-orders stood at 8 million. It had the second biggest launch of 2020 after FIFA 21, beating The Last of Us II, with the lion’s share of sales being on PS4. (Thanks GI.biz).

How long it’ll remain in the top ten remains to be seen – amazingly, it’s still in the running for Christmas no.1 despite the negative press.

FIFA 21 – last week’s chart-topper – falls to #5, while Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla hold onto #2, #3 and #4.

Just Dance 2021 shows no signs of slowing, climbing to #6. That trend ends there – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe falls to #7, Spider-Man Miles Morales drops to #8, while Minecraft tumbles to #9.

Then at #10 it’s Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

Ubisoft’s Immortals: Fenyx Rising had a sluggish second week, going from #11 to #17. Watch Dogs Legion is starting to lose its grip too, this week falling from #12 to #21.

The PS5 launch titles are starting the make their top 40 descent likewise, with Demon’s Souls now at #34 and Sackboy: A Big Adventure at #37.

Check back next week to discover the Christmas no.1. Traditionally it’s FIFA, but we wouldn’t rule out Black Ops Cold War or even Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

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