Cyberpunk 2077 Has Seen A Devastating Slump In Sales
With initial numbers so high, no one could have guessed how fast Cyberpunk 2077 sales would slow down.
This article is more than 2 years old
CD Projekt reports drops in quarterly profits following its flagship title, Cyberpunk 2077, delisting on the PlayStation Store and its ongoing unavailability on PlayStation’s service. Though the game was initially removed from Sony’s store due to poor performance issues, it hasn’t been reinstated following the game’s massive patch, which resolved a large portion of said problems.
In a story published by Reuters, CD Projekt SA reported on Monday that the company’s profits fell by more than half in the first-quarter sales from last year due to Cyberpunk 2077‘s absence from the PlayStation Store. The company didn’t disclose how many copies (digital or hard copies) of the game were sold during the quarter, but it did say that 60% of the profits came from Cyberpunk 2077 sales. As a result, the company’s net profits fell by 64% to $8.91 million, which is well below the forecasted $21.94 million.
The company’s profits were impacted by the depreciation of the game’s development and fixing the game’s issues at launch, which led to the game’s delisting on the PlayStation Store in the first place. For those in need of more context, Cyberpunk 2077 launched with favorable reviews among the critics for the quality of its story, visual quality, depth of side quests, the in-game atmosphere, and the freshness of cyberpunk settings. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, most of the initial reviews were based only on the PC version of the game.
Console versions of Cyberpunk 2077 were a whole different story, as they suffered from numerous bugs and performance issues, especially on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems. This made a dent in the game’s online reviews, especially regarding the notable difference in performance between the console version of the game and its PC release. In light of the game’s poor performance on consoles, CD Projekt issued an apology, allowing unsatisfied gamers a chance to opt for a refund – which they failed to provide.
As a result, Microsoft and Sony had to issue refunds under a standard refund policy. Sony did offer a refund to the unsatisfied customers who bought the game through their PlayStation Store but removed Cyberpunk 2077 from the store until further notice. Almost six months and one massive bug-fixing patch later, the game is still unavailable at PlayStation Store, depriving CD Projekt of one of the leading digital marketplaces, making a significant dent in the company’s profits. Microsoft never removed the game from their store but labeled it with a warning about its performance issues while also offering refunds for unsatisfied customers.
As a result of Cyberpunk 2077‘s poor performance and several class-action lawsuits tied to the controversy surrounding the game, CD Projekt’s stock value fell by 65.97% at the time of publishing this article. Regardless, Cyberpunk 2077 received generally positive reviews among the audience, despite its initial performance issues, which were later largely addressed by the patch. CD Projekt recognized the source of the performance issues and is currently managing said issues through multiple patches while simultaneously working on bringing the game back to the PlayStation Store, prioritizing fixes over further content development.
