Cyberpunk 2077, despite an ocean of negative post-launch publicity and extraordinary guarantees of refunds, still sold 13 million copies from its Dec. 10 launch through Dec. 20 — and these are copies still in players’ hands and on their hard drives, publisher CD Projekt said in its latest note to investors.
The 13 million figure is units “sold through,” meaning copies actually bought by customers, across all platforms. That number “factor[s] in returns submitted by retail clients in brick-and-mortar as well as digital storefronts,” as well as “all refund requests e-mailed directly to the Company.”
CD Projekt, on Dec. 14, unconditionally guaranteed a full refund for any copy of Cyberpunk 2077, whose launch on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One has seen numerous game-breaking performance issues and a slew of rendering glitches. The game is more stable on PC and on newer consoles (PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One X and up). Still, along with the apology for Cyberpunk 2077’s launch state on older consoles, CD Projekt promised several patches and updates through February, on all platforms, to make the game right.
Aside from that, the 13 million figure likely makes Cyberpunk 2077 the biggest launch among all video games for 2020.
Among third-party games, Activision and Ubisoft have been coy about exact figures for Call of Duty: Black Ops — Cold War and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, respectively, but both November launches appear to have set records. Activision said Black Ops — Cold War set a franchise record for worldwide online sales on its first day. Activision didn’t provide unit sales or a dollar amount, but last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare made $600 million in its first three days, which assumes about 10 million copies at $59.99 each.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla likewise does not have its sales figures broken out, but with Ubisoft calling it the biggest launch week for that franchise ever, we know that it at least beats the record of 3.5 million copies sold by Assassin’s Creed 3 in 2012.
Among the bigger-selling first-party titles — with the caveat they’re limited to one platform, where Cyberpunk 2077 is on three — Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 11.77 million copies in its first 11 days on sale, and needed six weeks to reach 13 million. The PlayStation 4’s The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima sold 4 million and 5 million copies within their first 10 days on shelves, too.
