The Edgerunners anime boosted sales of Cyberpunk 2077 and CD Projekt Red recorded its second best year in 2022

In 2022 CD Projekt Red did not release any games and devoted most of its resources to Cyberpunk 2077 updates and the Phantom Liberty expansion. Despite this, the Polish company experienced its second best year in financial terms, registering annual revenues of 204 million euros and a profit of 72.4 million euros. The person responsible for these results was Cyberpunk 2077, a title released in 2020 and whose sales increased thanks to the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime available on Netflix.

“The popularity of the series and the positive reception of the update [Edgerunners], released a week before the premiere, had a noticeable effect on the sales of Cyberpunk and the general opinion about the game, as evidenced by the reviews of the players”, says Adam Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt Red. “It is a clear sign that getting more involved in our franchises and expanding their reach is the right path.” The next news for Cyberpunk 2077 will be the release of the Phantom Liberty expansion, which will be shown at the Summer Game Fest and will be available this year.

The graph that you have above these lines shows the evolution of revenue from the sale of CD Projekt Red games (in millions of zlotys) over the years. The image makes it clear that the initial sales of Cyberpunk 2077 were very high and that in 2022, the year in which Netflix released the Edgerunners anime, sales rose compared to 2021. It is also striking that The Witcher 3 continues to generate a good amount of revenue seven years after launch. The Witcher 3 also experienced a sales rebound in 2019 thanks to the premiere of the first season of the series.

Regarding the opinion of the players, the Steam reviews speak for themselves. Starting in September 2022, when Cyberpunk Edgerunners was already available on Netflix, the number of reviews multiplied and the vast majority were positive. This trend continued for five months. The rebound in sales and good reviews that Cyberpunk 2077 registered in 2022 is not only due to the anime, but is also a demonstration that word of mouth works and that the work of CD Projekt Red, which has dedicated more than a year to Improving the game with updates after its controversial release has paid off.

The future of CD Projekt Red includes six projects: Project Polaris, a new installment of The Witcher that is part of a trilogy, Project Sirius, a title set in The Witcher franchise, the remake of the first The Witcher (code name Canis Majoris ), the Phantom expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, a new installment of Cyberpunk 2077 (codename Orion) and Hadar, a name that for now receives a new intellectual property.