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Cyberpunk 2077 Defies Launch Debacle, 13 Million Copies Sold After Refunds

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Ka-Ching

Cyberpunk 2077 max in-game setting screenshot
(Image credit: andwhat112)

Embattled game developer CD Projekt Red has taken plenty of heat for its botched Cyberpunk 2077 launch, but the company is working to assuage its investors as it reported today that it had sold 13 million copies of the game since the launch a mere 10 days ago. Surprisingly, those stellar sales numbers come after the company removed refunds from its final sales numbers and easily exceed the eight million copies the company sold prior to launch.    

Overall, that means that despite the controversy swirling around the new game, and the refunds being given for both digital and physical copies due to performance issues, the company has done well in terms of sales. 

For instance, CD Projekt Red sold four million copies of The Witcher 3 in the first two weeks, making Cyberpunk 2077 a much more profitable endeavor, at least for now. The Witcher 3 has sold more than 28 million copies in total, with the notable caveat that it has been on the market since 2015. It remains to be seen if Cyberpunk 2077 can match those stellar sales figures in light of the as-yet unsolved bugs that continue to plague the new title.  

CD Projekt Red posted its disclosure of estimated sales of Cyberpunk 2077 to its investor relations site, saying:

"[...] based on reports obtained from digital distribution platforms and data collected from physical distributors, it estimates that by 20 December inclusive gamers have purchased over 13 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077. This figure represents the estimated volume of retail sales across all hardware platforms (factoring in returns submitted by retail clients in brick-and-mortar as well as digital storefronts), i.e., the “sell-through” figure, less all refund requests e-mailed directly to the Company by the publication date of this report in the framework of the “Help Me Refund” campaign."

CD Projekt Red's disclosure comes as the company faces potential lawsuits from investors over misrepresentation of its game, and several retailers have scrambled to refund frustrated gamers due to the title's persistent bugs and performance issues. Sony even resorted to pulling the game from its online store due to severe performance issues on game consoles.

CD Projekt Red has struggled to respond to the issues but has released two post-launch patches to resolve some of them, including sub-par performance with AMD processors due to a misidentification error. In fact, the company issued its second patch a few days early as it tried to deal with the fallout of poor performance on gaming consoles. CD Projekt Red plans to release yet another patch early next month to resolve more issues with the game engine, but it is clear that it will be several months before the company has cleared its slate of outstanding bugs. 

Topics
Gaming
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • warezme 22 December 2020 22:52
    I for one am enjoying the game and playing along as I have time since it is huge. Of course this is on a pretty strong PC, not the latest but not bad at all so I believe gaming resources available make a huge difference between the game having issues and running smoothly as well as looking it's best.
    Reply
  • hotaru251 22 December 2020 23:17
    sadly sales don't undo the damage to the brand.

    lawsuit, fanbase let down, etc.

    as a business to maek $ it might be worth it but it may end up bad in long run.
    Reply
  • Flayed 23 December 2020 00:43
    The sales mean they have the funds to fix the bugs.
    Reply
  • the_real_D3V 23 December 2020 00:53
    I for one am really looking forward to the day when people and corporations learn to ignore apparent 'masses of upset people' on social media. At the very least, we need to stop treating digital outrage as if it is equivalent to IRL outrage. There is no 'debacle', no lawsuit, no damage to the brand. They delivered on the game as expected: amazing, beautiful, filled with bugs, and or course, difficult for even the best PC to run on ultra settings.

    Anyone who expected the PS4/Xbone versions to look like the PC version is, IMO, ignorant of or in denial about just how anemic and pathetic their consoles' hardware are compared to mid-tier PC parts. I'm amazed CDPR even bothered with those consoles at all, but I suppose they didn't have an alternative at the time.

    This will work out beautifully over time after another 3,000 bug fix patches. My guess is that it will likely be just as well loved and remembered as The Witcher 3. Personally I've had zero problems with the game on PC and it is only going to get better, and soon. I'm really looking forward to proper and AMD optimized DXR support!
    Reply
  • VforV 23 December 2020 08:23
    One or two years from now, this will be just another memory of a bad launch of a great game, that is all. CDPR will make tons of money and the game will run and play great at that time and with its huge content and world, will have replay-ability for years. Not to mention the DLCs that will come.

    That being said, on PC, now it is good and acceptable even with the bugs and performance, at least since patch 1.05 it is. But they should have not released for consoles, and that is the issue. That is the mistake and the bad press which will diminish their potential sales (which are amazing anyway) in the short run.

    When they fix the game for consoles, most of the people that asked for refunds or those that did not commit to buy yet will buy it then, so it will even out in the end.

    PS. With my rig, I'm playing on a mix of High-Med at 80-60fps and very rarely dips below 60fps. So I'm ok with the performance, considering my aging PC.
    Reply
  • MorganPike 23 December 2020 09:13
    the_real_D3V said:
    I for one am really looking forward to the day when people and corporations learn to ignore apparent 'masses of upset people' on social media. At the very least, we need to stop treating digital outrage as if it is equivalent to IRL outrage.

    This. It's pretty dang pathetic when people are looking for something to complain about on the internet so they can get a few clicks and so many actually take them seriously.

    I expect it from lawyers and/or investors, they're just looking to use the law to make money wherever they can just like any other dirtbag, but when supposedly reputable information outlets lend validity to it... well that's pretty dang inexcusable.
    Reply
  • CerianK 23 December 2020 15:06
    the_real_D3V said:
    I for one am really looking forward to the day when people and corporations learn to ignore apparent 'masses of upset people' on social media.
    I agree, to the extent that people and corporations (and governments) can learn to 'read between the lines' to figure out if there is a 'real' issue that actually needs to be addressed. Lacking that ability, the evidence seems to show much of what happens in response tends toward the extremes of under or over-reaction.

    Recently, I have heard the phenomena of 'masses of upset people' on social media expressing themselves through political activism described as 'attempting to fill a religion-shaped hole', which unfortunately might be more broadly applied outside politics... perhaps even gaming.

    This wouldn't be so bad, except it seems the vast majority of people expressing themselves are unwilling to take the time to carefully consider their words, or even the need to express them, as they would hopefully do IRL.

    All that being said, CP2077 should have been delayed longer so it didn't ruin so many people's holiday... just kidding.
    Reply
  • thepersonwithaface45 23 December 2020 15:15
    i enter a room and get upset if i see a microsoft bloatware vcr space heater
    Reply
  • dmoros78v 23 December 2020 15:58
    warezme said:
    I for one am enjoying the game and playing along as I have time since it is huge. Of course this is on a pretty strong PC, not the latest but not bad at all so I believe gaming resources available make a huge difference between the game having issues and running smoothly as well as looking it's best.

    This!, console may be a mess, But on PC it runs quite well I finished yesterday my first playthrough and absolutely loved it, yes I found bugs, some funny some annoying but not more than how Skyrim or GTAV was at launch. all in all a great game with great acting (although I still think Witcher 3 is superior)

    I tried it on two different PCs, my rig with a Ryzen 5800x 32 GB RAM and a RTX 2060 Super, and my sons rig which he inherited from me a couple of months ago with a Core i7 980X 24 GB RAM and a GTX 970

    On mine I can run Digital Foundry Optimied settings at 1440p 60 fps or can turn on Ray Tracing with DLSS Balanced with a 30 fps lock, on my Son´s rig it runs perfectly fine at Medium 1080p with a 30 fps Lock (how it should have run on PS4) both rigs give a perfectly fine experience of the game.
    Reply
  • Warsaw 23 December 2020 21:12
    I have to say that granted I've only played ~5 hours or so but have really only ran into 1 bug so far on PC and it was when I was in that training simulation. I'm sure I'll see more, but this all seems way out of proportion, unless since I just started playing yesterday they fixed that many bugs in a short timespan. In regards to how the game looks and the feel of the city/atmosphere it is just incredible and breathtaking of what they have accomplished.
    Reply