CD Projekt Red just posted a new company record for yearly sales and revenue in 2020, and it was all down to Cyberpunk 2077. Despite the game's incredibly rough launch, the open world RPG sold extremely well — mostly off the back of a massive marketing campaign and sky-high hype building.
For context, revenue for 2020, with the help of Cyberpunk, was $562 million. The company's previous record was set in 2015, generating $210 million because of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. That's quite the jump.
It's also worth noting that Cyberpunk 2077 launched right at the end of the year (10th December) — which makes these figures even crazier. In comparison, The Witcher 3 released in the summer of 2015, giving it a whole seven months to rack up profit.
When you consider the current reputation of Cyberpunk 2077, it seems crazy to think that it made so much money — but that's what happened, at least at launch. However, we don't yet know the cost of CD Projekt Red offering refunds, as well as the costs of continued development — development which has no doubt been stretched out beyond the studio's initial plans.
Are you surprised that Cyberpunk 2077 made CD Projekt Red so much dosh? Take a ride to Night City in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments (54)
Insert eye rolls and heavy sighs
Billion?! Jesus
And this is why nothing will change.
I have zero regrets in giving CDPR my $80 for a very fun video game.
The power of hype.
@MatthewJP Whoops! That's my mistake, should have been million, not billion! I've fixed it now.
A lot of people enjoyed it but mainly on PC so yes they deserve the money from that.
We know big games from most developers have issues at launch so just wait a few weeks after launch for reviews and peoples feedback before purchasing.
@ShogunRok Oh wow, that makes way more sense
That probably was the last best selling game they'll ever publish.
Feel sorry for people who got sucked into the hype. It seems people are perfectly ok to hand money over for a broken borderline none functioning product. You don't regret handing money over for that? then you're part of the problem.
I've played this game on PC and its relatively good visually and storyline-wise, but it's a mediocre open-world game.
@nessisonett Agreed. Little incentive to fix the game now. Patches here and there don't count because at its core it's still broken and riddled with issues.
Honestly, I got my money's worth from the game. Like 300 hours or so of playtime on multiple playthroughs.
They really did bring the cyberpunk genre to life, hum?
@RubyCarbuncle I couldn’t care less about the hype. I can only speak from my experience and my experience has been excellent. I’ve spent over 100 hours in this world with no critical issues. What problem should I feel I’m contributing to?
Sales yes. The hype was off the chart. But how many refunds did they have to process off the back of those sales?
We’ll see the 2021 results tough. That’s when the refunds, extended development cost, and decline in sales will reflect.
There was hype because The Witcher was good.
For a similar reason, sales of sequels are often heavily impacted by how good the previous game was. Sales of Days Gone 2 would have been an indicator as to how well people liked the first one.
We'll see how well their next project fares.
@Jimmer-jammer You are implying I was addressing you when I was not. I'm talking about people in general, if you enjoyed the game fine whatever however I stand by my statement and speak from my own experience and no doubt many others too.
Most sales were on PC (It is the fastest selling PC game of all time)
PC gamers are not skipping on a good game because of the PS4. Just like PS4 owners not skipping a good game because the Switch version runs like garbage.
It is a great game, Nothing to do with "hype"... gave me 100+ hrs of entertainment on my PC (that ran it great). Well worth the price.
Wait for it to get fixed on console. You will get a Gem.
@The_New_Butler keeping it off the PlayStation store for one.
@RubyCarbuncle “You don't regret handing money over for that? then you're part of the problem.“
Considering my original post, in all fairness I feel like I fall into “people in general” in this context. The fact is, I’m all for a better and more polished experience and I absolutely hold CDPR accountable for some shady behaviour around this launch. However, I believe they have accepted responsibility and made valuable changes going forward and simply don’t yet accept the idea that record profits posted from the year of one of the biggest game releases of all time means they don’t care about their art, reputation or good will. I suppose time will tell. Cheers!
@Jimmer-jammer I mean people who go around defending it and I've seen plenty of that here before, they're the ones that grate on my nerves somewhat. I don't have an issue with people enjoying it but the reality is the game despite all the best efforts to fix it is still in bad shape.
Loved every minute earning the Platinum Trophy in this game on my PS5. Incredible world and beautiful atmosphere. Shame they couldn't get it to run well on 8 year old hardware. But Oh well, devs did a great job on current hardware
@RubyCarbuncle varying experiences aside, this has certainly been one of the most fascinating video game releases in memory for a wide variety of reasons.
@Jimmer-jammer Yes it certainly has I can't disagree there.
@RubyCarbuncle
I'm one of those defenders, I think it's a fantastic game in many areas, but yes, it released unpolished. Sorry to 'grate on your nerves'.
You know what grates on my nerves? People who didn't like the game who can't leave any thread topic about it alone.
@RubyCarbuncle well you are correct in the hype side of things, you have to imagine the detail they had originally shown off a long time ago how vibrant the city was with compared to the final product.
While people loved the game and see past its flaws it still doesnt take away the fact those real details in the reveal are not present, it's like Watchdogs when they had shown how truly amazing it looked then the game came out and looked not as good as the initial reveal but at least it wasn't a buggy mess like Cyberpunk is.
If you are going to draw in the crowds then at least give the people the game you are aiming to make not a broken mess and sadly I feel there are people out there that forget how great cyberpunk looked and how bad it actually become as it seems like they never thought about the initial reveal coz otherwise how can people really say this game is great without even thinking well this isn't the game I wasn't told I was going to get in reality, it's wrong really if you think about and thats why this game is just based on hype and bad experiences on that note but thats just my opinion on the game.
The real Cyberpunk 2077 was the friends we made along the way while giving the CDPR corp our money.
The future for unfinished games getting released seems assured. Anyone that preorders, you are a fool of the highest calibre.
NO RAGRETS in giving a bloke on Amazon $20 for it.
Preorders are for newbs or those with pockets deep enough.
@LordSteev man, I played for another 3 hours last night and I gotta say, the last two patches really have made huge strides forward!
@Jimmer-jammer Heh, I agree with you totally!
I've got 77 new hours in since the 1.20 patch, totally hooked again. I'd be playing it right now, but my controller battery dried up, so I'm waiting the obligatory hour and a half for it to recharge.
I've been meaning to play more Disco, but I get started on Cyberpunk and it just won't let me go!
@LordSteev I wanted to take a night off from Disco but it might turn in to a couple of nights as I too was sucked right in again. I’ve discovered Brendan. Somehow missed him up to this point.
@Jimmer-jammer
It's a deeper game than most people think it is. This time around I've been paying closer attention to how I spec my V. Trying varied attack methods to top my skills up to their associated attribute levels. Like, if my Intelligence is at 14, and my quick-hacking is also at 14, it won't progress until I raise Int. to 15. But I want some more agility, so instead of raising Int. to 15, I'm using hand guns, where I can still get a bit of a progress reward before I cap it at agility score 7.
There's actually tons of depth to be found in tying skills you want to use or are curious about to your current attributes.
I missed a good gun on my first time through (heck, probably more than one) that I was delighted to find this time around. It's a pistol called Lizzy, and you find it, obviously, at Lizzy's! It's a tech pistol that shoots an impressive 15 rounds a second and adds fire damage, so it plays more like a submachine gun. Tons of fun!
I was sucked into the hype and it delivered. I really really loved it. Stick that in your negative pipes and smoke it!
@LordSteev Well said. I didn't enjoy it, but I'm over it. Not gonna harp on about it more. I just come to the CP2077 article's comments for the arguments now. 😃
Rewarded for mediocrity.
@Gavin_Newsom Glad you had a better time than me but crashing every few hours and fixing the game in patches isn't exactly a great job on current hardware.
I hate to think what kinda time I would have had if I hadn't played on my Brothers PS5.
I still don't know the reason why this game is constantly mentioned eye roll
Even Battlefront II (one of the biggest scandals in gaming history) didn't get nearly as much attention lol.
It's a piece of undercooked trash that was sold on complete lies and the worst part is that the gamers ate it all up and are even defending CDPR!
@LordSteev haven’t found that one but as a pistol wielding hacker, I might have to make a trip and see what I can find.
Playing it right now... one of the best games I’ve ever played. The scenery, the story, the gameplay... everything fits perfectly!
I only started playing after 1.2 release, playing on PS4 pro.. the game runs flawlessly!
only for now. this is a short-term gain, but their 10 year projection is in the gutter as it should be.
@Divergent95 what ending in the game did you get?
Hopeful that this years cash injection will go towards future development on the Witcher 4
@LordSteev That's where you're wrong I actually liked the game it's the issues I don't like and on my old account here I barely said a word in regards to this game as I have a tendency to avoid Articles like this but on this occasion I was genuinely disgusted by it. If me expressing myself like this gets on your nerves well I'm sorry.
Funny though how people defend this game yet they crucified games like Balan Wonderworld which is fully functional regardless of what you may think of it.
sales? who is buying this horrible broken mess? 😱😱😱
Hardly surprising as it sold off the back of the strength of Witcher 3...
@Darylb88 I could not agree more. Really appreciate the positivity you brought with that comment. Wish more people would take that route.
I waited since December, although I had the pre-order ready because of the backlash which I thought was going to be better to wait until they fix it. I started it last week after their big patch fix. And it was absolutely a crap first 30 mins...Did anyone notice, while selecting dialogues, choosing the second one, and then going back to the first one, the context doesn't change at all.
Like in a convo, I choose the second option and then on the first option it's asking me the question like it's the first time we're talking...It's so poor. The art style and designs are amazing, but just everything is so poorly done when stitched together. I don't even feel like playing anymore, I was looking forwrd for so long. Also the shooter gameplay wasn't fun so far, and the city (except for the art design) like the actual interactivity just felt off or bland. Like I loved Spiderman PS4, and exploring NYC
@Rob_230 And what will be the sales of their next game? They got away with it this time, but it could greatly reduce income for the next game. I’m not saying it’ll turn a loss, but I imagine sales will be a lot less. So they could take a hit in well over 100M of revenue in the future. They’re never getting their reputation back to what it was, and that reputation sold the game.
@Jimmer-jammer I have zero regrets giving them nothing and not supporting liars.
@Flaming_Kaiser Stewardship over ones’s finances is, to a certain degree, empowering...
@Jimmer-jammer For me its worth making the right choice for me and i really wanted to play it.
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