by English subtitles available.
Cyberpunk 2077 was a notorious disaster for CD Projekt, except it really wasn’t. It was a huge sales hit right out of the gate, moving 13.7 million copies (opens in a new tab) in 2020 (and remember, that only covers a small part of the year – Cyberpunk 2077 was only released in December 2020), and despite its well-publicized problems it continued to sell, surpassing 20 million copies (opens in a new tab) sold in September 2022. And in its latest financial report, CD Projekt revealed that the success of the Edgerunners anime helped drive sales even further, pushing the studio to a new quarterly financial record.
“In terms of finances, this was the best third quarter in our entire history, with consolidated revenues of zł246 million ($54.3 million), mainly due to strong sales of Cyberpunk,” said CD Projekt CFO Piort Nielubowicz. “The group posted zł99 million ($21.8 million) in net profit.”
CD Projekt has made significant strides in whipping Cyberpunk 2077 into proper shape, but the success of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime on Netflix has been instrumental in its recent resurgence. Our senior editor Wes Fenlon recently said that watching Edgerunners made him want to try the game again (opens in a new tab)and CD Projekt has effectively capitalized on the opportunity it presented by releasing an “Edgerunners” update (opens in a new tab)— technical version 1.6 — which, along with new gigs, weapons, cat images, and a transmog system, also includes “secrets” related to the anime series.
“This 10-episode series developed by CD Projekt Red in collaboration with Japan’s Studio Trigger stole the hearts of millions of fans of the universe around the world,” said Nielubowicz. “The series was praised by critics and hit the Netflix top 10 lists in 19 countries. The popularity of the anime series, along with the positive reception of [Edgerunners] update, visibly affected unit sales of Cyberpunk.”
CD Projekt echoed this sentiment in its full quarterly financials (opens in a new tab). “A significant increase in the amount of the group’s sales in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the reference period was mainly due to a good reception of the Cyberpunk Edgerunner update 1.6 that preceded the release on Netflix of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series,” the studio said. “The update included additional content for the game related to the series (side missions, locations, items, an arcade game) and a number of updates and technical improvements to the game. These events supported by a marketing and communication campaign contributed to an increase in Sales of products in CD Projekt Red segment.”
CD Projekt has previously said that they have no plans for a second season (opens in a new tab) of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, although given the response to it, I’d guess it’s a “never say never” situation. Edgerunners is on its way to the world of tabletop RPGs (opens in a new tab), however, as a mission set for Cyberpunk Red, the latest installment in Mike Pondsmith’s TTRPG series. CD Projekt, meanwhile, has confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 will get a full-on sequel (opens in a new tab)although the studio is currently concentrating the bulk of its efforts on the upcoming expansion, Phantom Liberty (opens in a new tab). All in all, not a bad turn for a game that was so messed up it got kicked off the PlayStation Store (opens in a new tab) for half a year.
