It was their decision to go with Warner Brothers as their partner and publisher. And it isn't like WB doesn't have a track record of some pretty disappointing decisions. (Hello pay-to-win microtransactions in Shadow of War. Looking right at you.)
Bottom line is no. No, CDPR does not get to throw their hands up in the air and wash themselves of responsibility and blame in this situation because they signed the damn contract with Warner Brothers in the first place. They also have the power to go to Warner Brothers hat in hand and do what is needed to get a PC Collector's Edition here in North America/U.S.
Might it cost them some extra money? Sure. It probably will. But then they shouldn't have cut corners in the first place by agreeing to the terms with Warner Brothers. This is an incredibly predictable backlash they're getting and, contrary to the thread title, I don't feel like I need to be particularly friendly in expressing my displeasure because the whole "not up to us" is complete weasel speak.
It was up to them to make this agreement with Warner Brothers. The dissatisfaction that has come as a result is their direct responsibility for their partnership choice. Just shrugging and implying it's all Warner Brothers' fault does not cut it in the slightest.
I decided to expand on the point I made here about going back to Warner Brothers and renegotiating.
CDPR does not just have to sit back and accept the verdict from Warner Brothers, even if they did make a mistake and sign a bad contract. Any contract can be revisited with both parties coming back to the table and there are incentives for both sides in this instance to do so.
ON CDPR's side...
They obviously have a lot of angry PC customers in North America over this issue. Over the years, CDPR has garnered a lot of goodwill for their customer friendly approach and that is reflected by their image in the marketplace. I doubt this alone will totally destroy it but it will put a serious dent in it among a sizeable number of their customer base.
If you take CDPR at their word (and from their track record I don't see any reason why we shouldn't) they place a premium on the importance of the customer experience. Knowing that their most dedicated fans of a particular region, who are ready and willing to pay $250(!), - not a cheap amount - for the extra goodies in the CE are the ones that are going to be most disgruntled by this I would think CDPR would really want to get this fixed if at all possible. These are the same fans who might pay a $190 premium again for the NEXT Collector's Edition of one of CDPR's games.
On Warner Brothers' side...
Let's be honest here; Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be a mega hit title. This is almost without a doubt the truth. It's going to be huge and CDPR's status in the industry is only going to rise afterward. Warner Brothers has a significant interest in being chosen as the distribution partner again for the next CDPR title. (Unless of course CDPR did something REALLY stupid like agree that Warner Brothers would be the partner for the next X number of games...in which case a lot of their leverage goes away.)
But let's assume that CDPR hasn't done something like that. I'd like to think they'd be smarter than that. But even if they aren't, eventually they're going to be free to partner with someone else.
Warner Brothers is going to want to keep the partnership going and that means keeping CDPR happy, which means keeping CDPR's customer's happy.
Both sides have incentives to go back to the table and work out a compromise.
CDPR probably will have to give Warner Brothers something in return for doing something that they did not originally agree to do, but this could absolutely be corrected if CDPR has the desire and motivation to get it corrected. CDPR probably would still come out ahead overall. The difference in price between the standard and collector's edition is $190. There should be plenty of room for both WB and CDPR to make a profit given that the extra goodies included don't look THAT expensive. (In all honesty the $250 price is a bit of a ripoff for what's included.)
When I say that the only question is whether or not CDPR has the will to do so, this is what I mean. There's almost a year until game release. If CDPR wants to get this fixed for North America they have plenty of time, leverage and resources to do so.
