Every time Cyberpunk 2077's immense sales numbers are brought up, people are quick to question how many of those copies were refunded. Well, we now have an answer — kind of. In its latest earnings call, CD Projekt Red stated that it spent $2.23 million on its worldwide refund program, which equates to around 30,000 refund requests. In other words, a very, very, very small amount of people actually took advantage of the company's offer.
Recently, it was reported that Cyberpunk 2077 sold 13.7 million copies in 2020, despite launching on the 10th December. Take that figure alone, and 30,000 refunds account for just 0.22 per cent of those sales. A drop in the ocean, relatively speaking.
However, it should be noted that users had to contact CD Projekt Red for help with refunds by the 21st December, 2020 — just eleven days after launch. As such, it's probable that the company's statistic of 30,000 refunds isn't entirely accurate, as there will no doubt have been customers seeking refunds beyond that point (especially with Christmas just days away from the cut-off).
But still, the 30,000 sample suggests that the vast, vast majority of Cyberpunk 2077 sales won't have been refunded. Going by this data, the popular argument that Cyberpunk 2077's commercial success might have been offset by refunds is completely off the mark.
However, none of this accounts for the potential loss in sales that CD Projekt Red may have to endure as it tries to repair its reputation. The company remains committed to "fixing" Cyberpunk 2077, but beyond that, we'll have to wait and see what the future holds.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 46
My request for a refund were rejected twice. I have no doubt MANY others were rejected too and like me because of the hassle involved in getting a refund didn't bother chasing it up.
This figure would be a lot higher if it wasn't for this I think. Finally after a million edits I get it right 😅
Edit: God I hate typing on a phone 🙄
It was always going to be the case I think. As much as we were vocal about how disappointing it was, most people who bought into the hype simply wouldn’t go through the process of refunding it. The people that bought the game off the GTA clone exaggerated trailers and thought it was crap just shelved it. You’d have to be pretty passionate and principled to go through the process, as well as clued into just how much was broken or omitted (FYI as disappointed as I was with it, I didn’t refund it as I think I got enough out of it).
Reminds me of the boycotts on borderlands 3 and pokemon sword/shield. Such a vocal minority and then both games end up selling super well. Everyone talks like half of the people who bought cyberpunk requested a refund. Sorry but the quiet majority is far too busy playing a great game.
I imagine there’s an even greater percentage of people like me who were absolutely planning to buy this game day 1 before all the controversy and will never bother picking it up after the fact
@Jayslow Such a great game that for a lot of people was unplayable. It may have been great for you but the reality is this game will go down as one of the greatest gaming disasters in recent years.
So they sold a broken game and still made profit. Way to go CDPR, way to go.
@ATaco It runs better on PS5 and PC but it's still far from perfect. I don't like to annoy people and in fairness I do acknowledge that there are those that have had a smoother experience even if I haven't.
CDProjekt red is still bullet proof, like anyone isn't gonna buy The witcher 4 day one
@RubyCarbuncle 0.22% of people. I'm not saying what CDPR did was ok by hiding console review copies. But most people who bought the game were quite pleased with their experience.
As always - A vocal minority. Everyone else was busy playing the game.
@Jayslow I know it's alright that's what I basically just said.
@Jayslow
In both those games cases, at least they worked. I loved Pokemon Shield and it wasn’t a broken mess at launch.
@Jayslow it's more accurate to say that some people are willing to tolerate a lot of garbage. There's a reason that it has become standard practice to release games buggy. People will just eat it up because they have no respect for themselves as consumers.
I got the refund and the interesting part is that they communicated it in a way to convince people it’s not worth the hustle. Like they stated multiple times that you’ll have to send them the game back and you’ll be given informations about how to do it in the future. The overall process took some time and there were something like 4 stages where you had to do something. And if you don’t use PayPal, the whole process got even more complicated… Super-glad I went thru it because I really don’t know what I would be doing with it. Keeping it on my shelf till they fix it? The game is gonna cost peanuts by then…
24 readers choice awards.
Second place in that category, after tlou2, beating the likes of ac, doom eternal, ori 2, hades, ghost and ff7 remake.
Is the gaming community played by a lot of jokers that enjoy broken games?
I think the pc communties love unfinished games. They were the ones that started buying early access games.
@2cents I'm part of that same percentage. CDPR would have to really turn it around for me to even think about trying it.
@Jayslow Yeah I wouldn'tsay it's all that great. While I enjoy the story I can't enjoy the gameplay cause of how many lies they spread about it. That and how average it is. We were supposed to get an RPG with choice making and we got none of that. All we got is a really basic shooter.
@Nepp67 The prologue of the game did have a choice making decision but after that - it's all just dialogue choices with different responses and scenarios that doesn't really affect the storyline at all.
There are many people who said that the side missions have altering choice decision making but I didn't bother completing those side mission because of the random game crashes. The combat and customization is the most disappointing elements of this game. it sucks because the story is great.
But how many sales did they lose due to the issues? I know they lost my sale. I'll buy it when the native PS5 version is stable.
So if refunds aren't a legitimate threat to sales, why isn't the game in the PSN store?
The quality, even with the worst reported at launch, would be still higher than plenty of other games in the PSN store.
@BrainHacker I haven't encountered a side mission where there's altering choice making. I think they mean the amount of side missions you complete to get a different ending which still doesnt do much. The one time you ever make decisions is during the part where you're helping out the Animals but even then it doesn't affect the story. Nothing affects the story, nothing affects the characters, and just nothing affects the world which is what I was really hoping for. What we got is nothing close to what was promised.
I guess this isn't counting my or many many other people's return via Steam.
I'd actually love to know how many they had to actually refund with retailers accounted for. We never will though.
Instead we get puff pieces like this that hope we forget they released a horrible broken insult of a game.
@Nepp67 I agree. Your decision during the main mission doesn't really affect the story because the scenarios might be different but the outcome will still be the same. The only part with RPG element is the romance options lol
The refunds were always going to be low, but I've always said it's not the decade hyped 2077 that's hurt by this. It's the next game cdpr makes that will suffer tremendously in sales from their shattered reputation.
Many hardcore gamers seem to live in a bubble. They spend so much time online discussing issues with like minded people that they create echochambers and lose touch with reality.
They assume there is great demand for niche games simply because others keep talking about them. But it's been proven over and over again that they are a loud minority and that companies can't always listen to them.
Same with Cyberpunk and so many other games. Thankfully, not everyone is like that.
I too am one of the small minority.
That has a free game.
And £50 back in the bank account.
Opportunity. Taken advantage of.
I’m sorry but 30,000 is not “very, very, very small”.
In comparison to overall sales it looks small, but that is probably the largest number or refunds ever issued for a video game.
Remember, a couple hundred complaints on TV is considered big, not because of the number, but because of what it represents. They say human nature isn’t to raise an objection, people don’t like to reveal they are against something, and they class each complaint as representing one thousand people. I imagine many wouldn’t have asked for a refund simply not to offend.
I know this isn’t the same. But for example, the average Scottish MP needs less than 30k votes to get elected. And they can make laws based on that number.
Yes, in the grand scheme it is a low number. But it still significant and shouldn’t be downplayed. And I have no hate for Cyberpunk btw.
And when was $2.23 million small?
There must have been quite a lot of PlayStation refunds or they wouldn't still be off the ps store 7 months later
got £49 refund of sony bought disc version for £20
I bought it used for $20, and now I wait for the free PS5 upgrade.
We all know people will still preorder their next game and complain about it being a wreck because humans never learn.
Probably because I never got my refund....
It did gangbusters either way, I think what will be of great interest is whatever they release next.
I am sure even a 10/10 Witcher 4 will see a drop from expectations, just as Cyberpunk 2077 had a Witcher 3 boost.
Typically as is always the case with fans, myself included, I bet the pre orders are down, but if their next game is a stunning return to form day 1, only the very few will really follow through on the "boycott" of the release long term.
I still haven't bought a Gearbox game after Colonial Marines but I was never a Borderlands fan so it's not exactly been a massive sacrifice.
@Subsided I'm a big CDPR fan since Witcher (1) but I absolutely won't be buying the Witcher 4 on day 1. Just as I didn't buy CyberPunk 2077 or Witcher 3, or Witcher 2 on Day 1. The reality is CDPR release buggy games at launch, particularly on console, this isn't anything new. I'll be waiting for the patches and the complete experience.
Anyone know if they are going to re-print the fully patched physical game? I'd prefer have it on disc rather than huge multiple download files.
I shelved it a long time ago, but never bothered with a refund. It stands as a physical reminder to me to never preorder. I will go back to it at some point.
I got my refund. Proud to be one of those. Will not take games in this state. Maybe some time I’ll try it again, but not until it has a PS5 or XSX native version and more importantly, it actually works as it’s supposed to
@ATaco It all starts by calling customers customers instead of consumers.
@Jayslow People tend to have a centralist point of view, and no matter how far they are in the minority, they feel as if they are in the majority. There are a lot of factors that can contribute to this; but what I find contributes the most is socializing with like minded people; in what eventually just becomes an echo chamber. At some point you just can't imagine anyone not sharing the same opinion; and that anyone that has a different opinion must be either completely stupid, or trolling.
My personal take (on this specific situation) is: The game isn't out on the current generation of consoles yet; so I have no interest in it until it is.
An interesting wrinkle is that the 30,000 only relates to box copies return to CD project directly. People refunded through online stores or directly by retailers wouldn’t be counted.
I don't even know why people in here are saying that the "vocal minority" didn't make any impact at all, when the market shares of CDPR plummeted and they are facing a lawsuit from their investors.
I enjoyed Cyberpunk on PC but the state of this game on last gen console is unacceptable.
@Ryall
My thoughts exactly. Vast majority of us who got refunds wasn't from CDPR.
Thats why Sony took it off the Ps store because so many people bombarded them with refund requests after CDPR told us to
@ATaco.... The biggest problem in gaming is the PC community. Gaming to them is about fretting over GPS, Resolution, refresh rates, ram, process and so on. PC gaming is about being concerned about the hardware more than the actual game, being concerned that the games runs smooth instead of being concerned about the game being good or being up to an adequate standard, its the PC crowd that gave rise to Beta testing and early access nonsense in gaming, I mean PUBG was not a game in the traditional game sense, the whole game is a early access beta unfinished software and the PC crowd made it popular and did the dev release a finished game? Nope PUBG is still an unfinished that was released with the publisher making full profit on work they did not finish.
The CDPR dev can lie about being forced to release but they are lying as they committed to 2020 release to the management, this game was supposed to release in 2022 but after funding the game for 8 years of development there was no way management were going to fund the game for a further 2 years hence they took the gamble willingly knowing very well that the gaming community does not have quality standards cause if we did then Fortnite, Fifa, COD would stop selling like hot cakes long ago.
It must be depressing to other devs and publishers as Fortnite, COD and Fifa are currently the cheapest games to make as they require no effort or risk, just shiny textures and monopolistic licensing deals.
Why risk your money and creative risk when EA Canada easily sells 20 + million copies each by selling shinny graphics.
CP2077 is also a visual corridor splenderbut a shallow game by CDPR's Witcher 3 standard.
The perfect crime.
@ShogunRok @The_New_Butler
Other outlets have suggested the 30,000 refunds stated were specifically for CDPR’s “Help me refund” program, which was only people who emailed CDPR directly to get a refund. If so it would not include everyone who returned it to Amazon, Best Buy, etc. nor PS Store refunds or eBay/second hand offloading.
IF that is the case it is a classic case of misdirection on CDPR’s part. (See “how to lie with statistics” by Darell Huff)
I played all 3 factions and 100% of the side quest on each one. I played about a quarter of the first faction on PS4-Pro. All the rest was on PS5. Crashes where a disappointment, but I still really enjoyed the game as a whole. Never once thought about a refund. When the PS5 edition comes out I plan to play it all over again.
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