Cyberpunk 2077's huge profits were barely affected by refund policy
www.thesixthaxis.comDespite all the doom and gloom headlines surrounding the state of Cyberpunk 2077 at its launch in late 2020, and a high-profile refund policy that saw the game delisted from the PlayStation Store, CD Projekt has been able to post record revenues and profits. The company made $563 million in total sales revenue with a net profit of $301 million in 2020, as 13.7 million million total copies of Cyberpunk 2077 were sold before the end of December 2020. Within that, CD Projekt has put aside $51 million in a “provision” for the sweeping refund policy that came into affect after the game’s release, with $12.9 million of that actually used in 2020. On the most basic level, you could extrapolate that to 215,000 copies at $60, but the number would be higher as CD Projekts figures would be impacted by the cut taken from digital storefronts, and for physical copies, their distribution deal with Bandai Namco and wholesale value to retailers. The actual number of refunds would potentially be closer to 300,000, accounting for the straight 30% fee on digital sales and CDPR’s offer to handle physical game refunds themselves costing them more than they made from a sale. That easily leaves well over 13 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077 out there that were not refunded. Some of that could be down to how those copies were sold. 56% of all sales were on PC and Stadia, the two platforms where the game performed best, while 28% were on PS4 and 17% on Xbox One. Given that PC is almost entirely digital these days, this would imply that around 60% of copies on console were physical. We also got some insight into the game’s production, with a huge team of 530 developers having worked on the game and 2,000 voice actors having performed across 18 languages. The game had a total budget of $315 million, confirming that CD Projekt were able to immediately turn a profit upon the game’s release. So, it seems that while CD Projekt’s reputation has been dragged through the mud, Cyberpunk 2077 has not hurt the company’s bottom line in the slightest. Still, there’s a long road ahead for the game, and investors have yet to regain confidence in the company, with the market value falling 15% after a previous investors call. The company is currently working to patch issues –  the 1.2 update released last month and 1.2.1 update last week to try and fix many of the game’s woes, and by early accounts making significant progress in getting more playable performance from base hardware. However, the development roadmap was delayed after the company was hacked, and next-gen updates are still a long way off. CDPR has also announced that the previously standalone multiplayer Cyberpunk game has changed course and will now be an additive experience. Source: CD Projekt
blackstar April 23rd, 2021
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