The Cyberpunk 2077 Hacks Were Worse Than Anyone Knew
Back in February, hackers managed to break into "Cyberpunk 2077" developer and publisher CD Projekt's private servers and held a great deal of the company's sensitive data for ransom. When CD Projekt refused to negotiate, the hackers sold the stolen data on the dark web, and much of that information was subsequently dumped online. On June 10, CD Projekt tweeted a dire message to its followers: the hacks that allowed an unidentified party to make away with the source code for "Cyberpunk 2077," "The Witcher 3," and "Gwent" may have been more thorough than anyone realized.
To CD Projekt's credit, the company decided to be immediately transparent with fans. Unfortunately, this announcement might have gone completely unnoticed by a majority of gaming fans, since it came right as everyone's attentions were turned toward the kickoff of Summer Game Fest and E3.
In a message posted to Twitter and the official CD Projekt website, the group explained that much more information may have been stolen in the breach. The note said, "We are not yet able to confirm the exact contents of the data in question, though we believe it may include current/former employee and contractor details in addition to data related to our games," CD Projekt explained. "Furthermore, we cannot confirm whether or not the data involved may have been manipulated or tampered with following the breach."
CD Projekt's difficult year continues
To say that CD Project has had a rough go of things this year would be the understatement of the decade. The company has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, ever since "Cyberpunk 2077" arrived on the market in a buggy and glitched-out state. Not only is CD Projekt facing multiple lawsuits, but its own investors are starting to turn on the company. The reveal that personal employee information may have been stolen and leaked online is just the latest in a series of hard knocks the company has taken in recent months.
At the moment, CD Projekt remains committed to finding out the extent of the information leaks, and has partnered with multiple law enforcement organizations to get to the root of the problem, including the General Police Headquarters of Poland, Interpol, and Europol. The company hopes to confirm whether or not the information that has been leaked is legitimate, as well as to ensure that its employees are protected.
Responses to this announcement have been mixed. While plenty of CD Projekt's followers on Twitter have expressed their concern for the wellbeing of the developer's employees, others have been unable to let go of their frustrations over "Cyberpunk 2077." One commenter replied to CD Projekt's announcement with a link to a recently-leaked video (courtesy of the hackers) that proved the "Cyberpunk 2077" team knew about the number of glitches in the game.