Before this decision hit the official PlayStation Support account, the path toward receiving refunds for PlayStation users seemed quite bleak. Though Sony hadn't officially commented on whether buyers would be refunded for their Cyberpunk purchase, the company's official policy is not to refund customers who have already started playing a game "unless the content is faulty."

CNBC journalist Steve Kovach confirmed through a message to PlayStation Support that Sony was apparently refusing refunds at the time.

"CD Projekt Red is currently working on patches and updates to fix bugs and crashes, and to improve overall gameplay experience of Cyberpunk 2077," a reply from the support team read. This appeared to echo several other frustrated buyers' experiences who had reached out to Sony for help.

The negative experiences players on older systems had prompted an official apology from the Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account on Dec. 14, in which the studio took responsibility for the issues and directed players who wanted their money back for console versions of the game to request refunds from Microsoft or Sony or to email CD Projekt RED if no resolution was found.

CD Projekt Red issued its own statement on Thursday evening, reiterating Sony's policy. The Polish game studio also clarified that physical copies of the game for PS4 will still be available and that owners of the title on the platform will still receive updates. "All copies, whether digital or physical, will continue to receive support and updates from the Company," CD Projekt Red said.

Just days ago, Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt RED held an emergency board meeting discussing and acknowledging the issues players had been experiencing on last-gen consoles. Co-CEO Adam Kiciński acknowledged that the game's performance had been "way below" the team's expectations, and that it was "the wrong approach," against the company's business philosophy.

During the same call, however, CD Projekt RED revealed that there had been no official refund policy in place with Microsoft, Sony or other retailers. Since the call, Microsoft advised players to simply reach out for assistance with its standard refund policy, which grants refunds in accordance with players seeking money back within 14 days of purchase. Sony's policy, as previously stated, was nowhere near as lenient.

With Sony's new decision, the company appears to be taking the situation even more seriously than Microsoft, even going so far as to remove the game from its digital storefront for the time being.

There’s currently no stated timeline for when, or if, Cyberpunk 2077 will be reinstated on the PlayStation Store.

Requests for comment from CD Projekt Red were not immediately returned.

Photo courtesy of CD Projekt RED