At first blush, 2022 may have seemed like a somewhat quiet year for CD Projekt Red as it didn’t see any major new releases, but according to the company’s latest financial results, it was actually their second-best year ever. In 2022, CDPR brought in approximately $222 million in revenue, resulting in around $80 million in net profit. The main factor driving this good year for CD Projekt Red was sales of Cyberpunk 2077, which were up year-on-year compared to 2021.
While part of this was due to the next-gen update released for Cyberpunk 2077 back in February of last year, CDPR was pretty clear that the big turnaround was the premiere of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Netflix anime. According to CDPR they saw an almost immediate sales boost for Cyberpunk 2077, which lasted a surprisingly long time… well after the initial hype for Edgerunners died down, indicating word of mouth improved once people gave the game another chance. CDPR shared the following chart showing the large boost in positive Cyberpunk Steam reviews following the launch of Edgerunners.
CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciński sees the success of Edgerunners as proof more spinoffs and experiments with different forms of media are the right path going forward…
“The popularity of the series and the positive reception of the update, released a week before the premiere, had a notable effect on Cyberpunk sales and general sentiment around the game, as evidenced by gamers’ reviews. This is a clear sign that deeper involvement in our franchises and expanding their reach is the right way to go. Another important event supporting the Cyberpunk franchise will be the release of Phantom Liberty – a large expansion scheduled for this year.”
As Kiciński mentions, CDPR’s next big project is the next/current-gen-exclusive Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty story expansion. In addition to that, CDPR has plans for a new UE5-powered Witcher trilogy, an open-world remake of the original The Witcher, a unique (and recently rebooted) Witcher spinoff from The Molasses Flood, a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and more. According to the following chart, most of CDPR’s focus is on Phantom Liberty at the moment, but Polaris development is ramping up as post-launch support for Cyberpunk 2077 winds down.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty comes to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 sometime in 2023, with CDPR promising a ramp-up in marketing in June. The rest of the company’s projects are without release windows.
