CD Projekt Red has revealed their latest financial figures for fiscal year 2020 that ended last month. In the report they revealed Cyberpunk 2077 had sold 13.7 million copies. Meanwhile, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has shifted another couple of million copies to put its base game and DLC add-ons at 30 million copies over its lifetime.
The Witcher franchise still remains at more than 50 million copies sold between the three games and the DLC add-ons. Of those sales, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold more than 30 million copies on its own, two million more than it had at the same time last year and far outweighing the combined sales of the previous two titles. FY 2020 was its third best year so far, only being beaten by FY 2015 when the game launched and FY 2016 that saw the release of the game’s second DLC expansion Blood and Wine. With a PlayStation 5 update due to arrive in the second half of 2021, the sales of the game will likely increase even further next year.
The developer’s other more controversial franchise, Cyberpunk 2077, has now sold more than 13.7 million copies. As the game had reached more than 13 million copies sold back in December, sales over the last few months have been much slower. According to the developer, this is due to the game’s removal from the PlayStation Store and its knock-on effect on sales on other platforms. The game relies heavily on digital sales; only 27% of those sales have been physical discs. Despite the game’s removal, 28% of the game’s sales have been on the PlayStation 4 console with just 17% selling on Xbox One.
CD Projekt offered a refund program for those wanting to return their copies of the game after its launch after many complained of a “poor experience.” According to GamesIndustry.biz, the company revealed this has led to just 30,000 refund requests through their offer. While this won’t include refunds issued through Sony or retailers like GameStop, this will have made barely a dent on the game’s overall sales.
The financial results also revealed some interesting details about the game’s development. Its total budget was 1.2 billion PLN (just under $319 million) and those costs had already been recouped back in December. While the development team included 530 developers from CD Projekt Red, the game involved more than 5,200 people in total. Because the game was launched in 18 languages with voice overs in 11 of them, 2,000 actors were involved in the title. Development continues on the game with more patches that aim to turn the game into a state where they can “successfully sell it for years to come.” The PlayStation 5 version of the title and a free next-gen upgrade is also due to be released during the second half of 2021.
[Source: Twitter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), GamesIndustry.biz]
