Cyberpunk 2077 May Still Be 2020's Biggest Game Launch
To say that the past few months have been up and down for Cyberpunk 2077 would be the understatement of the year. To go from finally being released to being removed from the Playstation store in a short amount of time could spell ruin for a developer. However, it seems like CD Projekt is still going to end 2020 on something of a high note.
The Polish developer released its estimated sales numbers on Dec. 22, 2021. It states that gamers purchased 13 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077 as of Dec. 20, a mere 10 days after launch. That number is the "sell-through" amount, which actually does factor in the amount of refunds across all physical and digital storefronts. This marks the largest reported sales number in that time frame this year.
Polygon helped put that number into perspective. While certain publishers such as Activision and Ubisoft haven't released actual numbers of units sold for titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla respectively, it is known that 2077 has outsold games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which sold 11.7 million in that time frame, and even eventual Game of the Year award winner The Last of Us Part 2, which only sold 4 million copies across its first 10 days.
This is also a huge step up from CD Projekt Red's last major title, The Witcher 3, which sold 4 million copies in its first two weeks when it launched back in May, 2015.
This success comes as CD Projekt Red is facing a real online storm of complaints since launch, most notably surrounding the game's performance on the base previous-gen consoles. The problems with the game have been well-documented, whether it's issues such as graphical bugs, texture errors or broken AI, to much bigger issues like corrupted saves, which can make your game unplayable. The game has been torn apart and scrutinized online across all platforms, prompting the developers to eventually issue an apology.
On the other side, there are still plenty of things worth checking out in Cyberpunk 2077, even if the recent uproar has pushed back other things, such as a multiplayer mode. A second hotfix has been released, with more planned through at least February 2021. According to these latest reports, 13 million copies are still in the hands of players as they look to see what the potential of this game can be.