Cyberpunk’s Launch Did Well in One Area and Bad in Another

To say Cyberpunk 2077 has had a rough launch would be putting it gently. On the most powerful PC’s, players were reporting game-breaking bugs that could stall quests, crash the game, or tank your FPS, all while boasting solid storytelling and gameplay marred by an awful economy balance, a pointless crafting system, and overly grindy RPG skill trees.

PC players were reporting unplayable FPS and texture issues, and honestly, that should have been the first warning that maybe this game set out to do too much. I know that’s probably blasphemy, especially compared to games like Black Ops Cold War, but if PC players with literal top-of-the-line builds are struggling to get a consistent 60 or even 30 FPS, there’s something wrong with the game, and not the machines playing it.

The next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PS5, fair about the same, with relatively solid gameplay but frame drops and worse texture issues, but it’s the current gen consoles, the Xbox One and PS4, that are so horrifically bad that I’m not sure the game is worth the price. Textures are so bad that driving is practically impossible thanks to things popping in at the last possible second, and frame rates can dip as low as sub-20, which is literally unplayable.

All of this has led to developer CD Projekt Red’s stock to drop a shocking 29% according to IGN, which is nothing to laugh at. That’s a massive drop, going from about $28 USD the day before release, to just under $21 by today. Unsurprisingly it’s barely recovered as of writing, and the steep decline from close yesterday ($24.96 USD) to opening today ($22.10 USD) doesn’t bode well for the company.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, however, is the game’s financial success, which could buoy the company as it continues to lose public favor.

While official numbers haven’t been released as of writing, in just one day, Cyberpunk 2077 turned a profit for CD Projekt Red, recouping the total development, marketing, and promotional costs the game racked up prior to release off of nothing but the pre-order sales, although licensing royalties the company is owed also helped.

That’s insane. While pre-orders are the reason the game has managed such numbers, and are the reason many games post high sales numbers despite being incomplete or just straight up bad for consumers, the fact that pre-orders alone carried Cyberpunk 2077 to a profit is insane. Whether or not the game continues to see high sales numbers over the holiday season and beyond is anyone’s guess, but if I had to put money on it, I’d wager yes.

CD Projekt Red is well-regarded for being kings at working buggy games into something truly breathtaking, and if that track record is anything to go by combined with the numerous fixes they’ve already pushed out in the day since release, this game will be well worth the price tag come the new year.