CDPR CEO Regrets Launching Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty So Late
09.01.2024 - 12:41
/ thegamer.com
/ Andrzej Sapkowski
Cyberpunk 2077 came out on December 10, 2022, nearly three years ago. It was a mess at launch, so bad in fact that it was pulled from the PlayStation store amidst an influx of refund demands. CD Projekt Red got to work on updating the game to fix the myriad problems plaguing performance, while also working to introduce some of the key promises absent in the final game such as a working metro, ultimately delaying DLC plans.
As such, Phantom Liberty was released two years after the game launched. That's a long wait for more of V's story, which looking back now, joint CEO Michał Nowakowski regrets.
To be honest, the decision to go through with the expansion so long after launch of the single-player game was a bit counterintuitive. But what happened is proof to us that solid content that people are happy with is the way to go.
CD Projekt Red is trucking along with its next few projects now, focusing primarily on The Witcher 4 (which we know very little about), with a remake of the first game set to follow. There's more Cyberpunk in development, too, but CDPR is taking a break from the garish neon lights of Night City to dip its toes back into Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy world for a spell.
Speaking of The Witcher, Nowakowski also shed light on how Cyberpunk 2077's DLC performed compared to The Witcher 3's Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions. It's worth noting that The Witcher 3's two major DLC stories launched within the same year as the base game, whereas Cyberpunk 2077 had that two-year delay.
"Three months after the release of Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, we were at 22 percent and 24 percent attach rate (main units to DLC units)," Nowakowski tweeted. "We landed between these values with Phantom Liberty in a similar timeframe."
For comparison, The Witcher 3 has sold over 50 million copies, while The Witcher trilogy as a whole boasts lifetime sales of over 75 million units.
Cyberpunk 2077 has sold over 25 million units and Phantom Liberty over five million. So, while there was a long and regretful wait between the base game and its DLC, it's performing incredibly well for CDPR.