Back in December, developer CD Projekt Red made waves by offering full refunds to
2 days ago Cyberpunk 2077 sold 13.7 million copies in just 21 days, and PC made up 56% of revenues, more than PS4 and Xbox One combined. Zawadzki didn't share the specific reason for his decision to take a break from the service, but his comments suggest that his Twitter hiatus is related to harassment over issues plaguing Cyberpunk. Twitter reacts to the Cyberpunk 2077 launch trailer. Yesterday, the embargo on Cyberpunk 2077 was lifted and since then, many reviews for the game have been released.With the release of all the. The Cyberpunk Twitter account is not the most credible source when it comes to release dates, as we found out recently. 16 points 1 month ago. Can't wait for them to shut down their new banner and our hopes and dreams. 32 points 1 month ago. 2 days ago Despite a tough launch for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt wasn’t hurt much by refunds. On an investor call, the company’s CFO discussed the issue, revealing that the developer only refunded 30K.
players who were dissatisfied with the game's poor performance, especially on older consoles. Days later, Sony delisted the game from the Playstation Store and made its own refund offer, which was followed by a similar refund offer from Microsoft.Today, with the release of the CDPR's Consolidated Financial Statement for the 2020 fiscal year (which ended December 31), we know how much that refund program cost the company last year and how much CDPR expects those refunds and lost sales to cost in 2021. All told, it seems the impact will be very low to an otherwise record-setting financial year.
Buried in the 'Other Provisions' section of the 90-page financial report, CDPR acknowledges about $51.2 million (194.5 million PLN) that the company says it 'has recognized [as] provisions for returns and expected adjustments of licensing reports related to sales of Cyberpunk 2077 in its release window, in Q4 2020.' Translated into plain English, that number seems to include all digital and retail refunds for the game in 2020, as well as expectations for continued refunds and lost sales projected through 2021 (thanks to F-Squared's Mike Futter for helping me parse the tortured language in the report).
Broken down, the $51.2 million in 'provisions for returns' includes $10.65 million (40.4 million PLN) in refunds made through digital and physical retailers in 2020, as well as about $2.23 million (8.5 million PLN) in direct refunds made last year through CDPR's 'Help me Refund' campaign (including marketing costs for that campaign).
CDPR projects an additional $38.34 million (145.6 million PLN) in refunds and lost sales in 2021 'based on information obtained from distributors concerning sales to retail distribution networks, retail sales to end customers, number of copies present in various distribution channels and warehouses, as well as the distributors' professional judgment concerning expected sales throughout 2021.' That seems to include the impact of the game's continued absence from the Playstation Store, which CDPR says is close to ending now that the developer has released a number of major patches.
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A drop in the bucket
Losses of over $51 million due to Cyberpunk's botched launch might sound significant. But that number has to be taken against the rest of the company's record-shattering performance last year. That included about $563 million in total sales revenue (~2.14 billion PLN) and net profit of just over $301 million (~1.15 billion PLN) in 2020 alone. Even adding in the Cyberpunk refunds/losses projected for 2021 (and not including any additional Cyberpunk sales projected for 2021), that $51 million 'provision' represents just 9 percent of the company's 2020 revenue.You can also weigh the impact of the refund program against 13.7 million total unit sales of Cyberpunk 2077 before the end of December. Assuming 2020's approximately $12.9 million in refunds averaged out to full $60 purchases, that means CDPR refunded just under 215,000 copies, or about 1.6 percent of all Cyberpunk units sold last year.
[Update: In an earnings call following the financial statement's release, CDPR confirmed that roughly 30,000 copies of Cyberpunk 2077 were refunded directly through the company's 'Help Me Refund' program. That would imply a total of about 180,000 total refunds in 2020, assuming the same average 'cost per refund' rate across various digital and retail storefronts.]
Despite the strong financial picture, the reputational damage CDPR is facing from Cyberpunk's poor rollout may continue. The company's stock price peaked at $31 a share on December 4, just a week before it announced its refund program. Yesterday, that stock closed at $11.68, down over 62 percent in about four and a half months.
Elsewhere in its financial presentation, CDPR shared additional statistics for Cyberpunk's absolutely massive launch, including:
- 73 percent of all sales were digital downloads, 23 percent retail discs
- 56 percent of sales came on the PC/Stadia, 28 percent on PS4, 17 percent on Xbox One
- 38 percent of sales were in North America, 24 percent in Europe, 20 percent in mainland Asia
- The game had a total budget of $315 million (1.2 billion PLN)
- There was a team of 530 developers working on the game, plus 2,000 voice actors across 18 languages
In addition to continued patches, CDPR continues to promise that a number of free DLC offerings and optimized 'new generation' editions of the game will be coming later in 2021.
Listing image by CD Projekt Red
© CD Projekt RED Cyberpunk 2077's map was crafted entirely by handAndrzej Zawadzki, Senior Game Designer at CD Projekt Red and the RPG Design Lead on the controversial Cyberpunk 2077, recently announced on Twitter that he was leaving the social media platform for a few days. Zawadzki didn't share the specific reason for his decision to take a break from the service, but his comments suggest that his Twitter hiatus is related to harassment over issues plaguing Cyberpunk 2077.
'Need to turn off Twitter for a couple of days. There are some lines you simply don't cross,' Zawadzki tweeted over the weekend, on December 12. 'Take care folks and be good to each other.'
Need to turn off Twitter for a couple of days. There are some lines you simply don't cross.
Take care folks and be good to each other.
— Andrzej Zawadzki (@ZawAndy) December 12, 2020Cyberpunk 2077 was, of course, one of the most anticipated games to come out this year, and it has not lived up to many gamers' expectations, to put it mildly, particularly on the last-gen consoles. With reports of bugs, frame rate and visual issues hampering the game over the weekend, it's likely that Twitter users inundated Zawadski's feed with nasty messages and possibly even threats.
Cyberpunk 2077 1.2 Patch
It wouldn't be the first time that Zawadzki has had to deal with 'fans' singling him or his colleagues out and harassing them over something they didn't like about Cyberpunk 2077. In late October, Zawadzki took to Twitter after it was announced that the game was being delayed for a third time, to what ended up being its final release date of December 10.
'I want to address one thing in regards of the @CyberpunkGame delay. I understand you're feeling angry, disappointed and want to voice your opinion about it. However, sending death threats to the developers is absolutely unacceptable and just wrong. We are people, just like you,' Zawadzki wrote on October 28.
Zawadzki went a step further and posted some messages that the developers had received after the game's delay was announced.
This is one of the mildest messages some of us got. There were far, FAR worse. Every single one is being reported. We will not let it go through.
Do not treat it lightly. Do not ignore it. It is serious.
That said, I'm off TT for couple of days. Take care.#Cyberpunk2077 pic.twitter.com/Z80HHWADqU
— Andrzej Zawadzki (@ZawAndy) October 28, 2020Now, with the less-than-stellar launch of Cyberpunk 2077, it wouldn't be far-fetched to presume that the developers are receiving similar sorts of messages from people.
Newsweek reached out to CD Projekt Red for comment and will update if a statement is provided.
The online vitriol surrounding Cyberpunk 2077 isn't just relegated to the developers, though. GameSpot and its reviewer caught flack for giving the new title a 7-out-of-10 review rating. A writer with GameInformer also received backlash for publishing a piece that said the game could be triggering for people prone to epileptic seizures, and that she suffered at least 'one major seizure' while playing.
Since the game's launch, CD Projekt Red has acknowledged the game's shortcomings—especially on PS4 and Xbox One. The studio recently issued an apology and, while asking for patience for patches to be implemented, told gamers that they can receive refunds from the PlayStation and Microsoft stores.
Cdpr Twitter
CD Projekt Red released the 1.04 patch on Friday to resolve some of the issues and two more 'big' patches are expected in January and February, respectively.