Cyberpunk 2077 Just Hit 35 Million Sales Faster Than The Witcher 3, Because We All Love a Redemption Arc

It turns out that releasing a broken game and then spending three years fixing it is actually a viable business strategy. Who knew?

CD Projekt Red just dropped their Q3 financial results, and they included a stat that genuinely blew my mind. Cyberpunk 2077 has officially crossed the 35 million copies sold mark.

That is a massive number on its own, but the real kicker is the comparison. It hit this milestone faster than The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt did.

Let that sink in. Geralt of Rivia, the golden boy of RPGs, the guy who starred in a game that practically swept every award in existence, took about six years to hit 30 million. Cyberpunk, the game that was pulled from the PlayStation Store for being a digital crime scene, did 35 million in under five years.

The Power of the Anime (and the Fixes)

We can't talk about this without mentioning the hard work. CDPR didn't take the money and run. They stuck with it.

They patched the bugs. They reworked the skill trees. They dropped the excellent Phantom Liberty expansion (which has sold over 10 million copies on its own, by the way). And yeah, releasing the game on the new Nintendo Switch 2 earlier this year definitely helped juice those numbers.

But let’s be real: the Edgerunners anime did a lot of heavy lifting here. Nothing sells a game like emotional trauma set to a banger soundtrack.

Beating the King at His Own Game

It’s important to note that The Witcher 3 is still the overall king with over 60 million lifetime sales. Cyberpunk hasn't caught up to the total yet, but the velocity is what matters to the suits.

It proves that the IP is strong. It proves that despite the disastrous launch, the "Cyberpunk" brand isn't toxic. In fact, it's apparently more potent than high fantasy right now.

What This Means for the Sequel

This success is basically a blank check for the sequel, codenamed "Project Orion."

CDPR confirmed that the team working on the sequel in their new Boston studio is growing fast. They are staffing up, and now they have 35 million reasons to be "audacious" about the future.

I just hope that "audacious" includes "releasing a finished game this time."

If Cyberpunk 2077 can sell this well after starting life as a meme, imagine what a Cyberpunk game could do if it actually works on day one. A man can dream.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

• ARC Raiders Was Almost Canceled, and This Documentary Explains Why We Nearly Lost It

• The Venator Just Got Kneecapped in Arc Raiders Patch 1.3.0, and It's About Damn Time

• Arc Raiders Sounds Incredible, But the Directional Audio Is Lying to You (And How to Fix It)

• Take-Two's CEO Just Admitted the Future Is PC, So Where the Hell Is My GTA VI Port?

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Just Set a TGA Record, and the GOTY List Is a Bloodbath