CD Projekt RED’s yearly financial report finally gives us a concrete idea of the size of Cyberpunk 2077 refunds.
As you will undoubtedly recall, the game’s launch issues on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One led Sony to temporarily delist the game from the PlayStation Store, while Sony, Microsoft, and CD Projekt RED all extended their refund policies so that dissatisfied customers would be able to get their money back.
As it turns out, though, the Cyberpunk 2077 refunds that went through before the end of 2020 are ‘only’ around 215K units. That’s a figure based on the report’s Note 35, labeled ‘Other Provisions’.
Jumping to page 73 of the report reveals that Cyberpunk 2077 refunds that went through various digital and physical retailers in 2020 amounted to 40.465 million PLN, or $10.7 million. CD Projekt RED itself registered costs for 8.459 million PLN, or $2.24 million, for its own ‘Help Me Refund’ program. If we assume full price ($60) for all sales, which is fair as there were no discount campaigns for Cyberpunk 2077 to date, the 48.94 million PLN ($12.94 million) round up to 215.6K units refunded. However, CD Projekt RED’s costs registered under the ‘Help Me Refund’ label include marketing expenses for the campaign, so the amount of game units refunded is likely a bit lower than 215.6K.
When it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 refunds for 2021, the picture is less clear. CD Projekt RED estimates 145.613 million PLN ($38.5 million) of negative adjustments in 2021, which should be a combination of refunds and the projected lost sales from the game’s PSN delisting.
This estimate was 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.
Indeed, during yesterday’s conference call, joint CEO Adam Kicinski admitted that the situation ‘definitely influenced’ sales in the first quarter of 2021. Even so, the game remains a huge success. There weren’t that many Cyberpunk 2077 refunds, and sales by the end of 2020 had reached 13.7 million units. This propelled the studio to its best year ever with revenues of 2.138875 billion PLN ($565 million) and a net profit of 1.154327 billion PLN ($305 million).
CD Projekt RED is also adamant that the release of additional patches, free DLCs, and the next-generation console update coming later this year will completely turn the sentiment around the game and fuel sales for many years to come.
Meanwhile, though, the original plans for Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer have been retooled as the company is once again focusing first and foremost on single player content.
