We all knew Cyberpunk 2077‘s launch was going to be big, but I don’t think anyone thought the company would have covered the costs of development and marketing from the game’s pre-orders, of which there were over eight million. However that’s the case, according to a memo published by the studio. What makes this jaw-dropping is that of those eight million pre-orders, nearly 75% were digital pre-orders (which CDPR has a higher return), and revenue from digital pre-orders alone has the costs covered, so any physical pre-orders placed was just extra money in the kitty for the Polish studio.
Not only does it fatten the wallets of CDPR’s shareholders, it’s a good result for the game’s developers, who have been subjected to a development cycle of intense crunch but will also share in the spoils – a 10% share in the company’s profit for 2020. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that CDPR management has taken full responsibility for the game’s buggy launch and that developers will still receive their bonus no matter how the game is reviewed (previously bonuses were based upon critical performance).
Cyberpunk 2077’s has suffered a rocky launch, as well as a tumultuous development cycle. After early, mostly glowing PC reviews went live, players and critics got to experience the game on consoles, which when playing on older hardware such as an OG PS4 has been a disaster. Overall the game has been plagued by bugs and performance issues, especially on consoles, which is why the studio kept console review codes hidden in a vault under the day before launch. WellPlayed’s Kieron Verbrugge is currently playing through the game on PS5 (PS4 version) for review and we’ll have thoughts up on the website as soon as we can.
Shoutouts to Polygon
