Cyberpunk 2077 has now sold more than 20 million copies

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

CD Projekt's cyberenaissance continue today with word from the studio that Cyberpunk 2077 has now sold more than 20 million copies.

"Over 20 million cyberpunks have been roaming the streets of Night City—partying with Jackie and getting to know Johnny, driving around with Panam and diving with Judy, hanging out with River and listening to Kerry’s songs," CD Projekt tweeted. "Thank you and we hope to see you all in the Afterlife!"

Over 20 million cyberpunks have been roaming the streets of Night City – partying with Jackie and getting to know Johnny, driving around with Panam and diving with Judy, hanging out with River and listening to Kerry’s songs.Thank you and we hope to see you all in the Afterlife! pic.twitter.com/ifFLhg6npOSeptember 28, 2022

Afterlife, by the way, is a nightclub in Cyberpunk 2077 that caters primarily to mercs and muscle.

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Selling 20 million copies is a remarkable achievement that puts the game in some very impressive company, including CD Projekt's previous game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, although it's still a far cry from the true behemoths like Minecraft (238 million), Grand Theft Auto 5 (170 million), or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (75 million). Even more impressive is how quickly it accomplished the feat. It took Stardew Valley six years to sell 20 million copies, for instance, while The Witcher 3 took four years; Cyberpunk 2077 pulled it off in less than two.

CD Projekt's official investor relations account, which is normally a straitlaced source of financial and regulatory information for investors, analysts, and other business types, was having some fun with the big number too.

pic.twitter.com/VdCT4nPF28September 28, 2022

Cyberpunk's sales were certainly front-loaded: more than half were rung up within a few weeks of its December 2020 release, thanks to a hugely successful pre-launch campaign that pulled in roughly eight million preorders—enough to make the game a bonafide hit before it was even released. Even so, more than six million sales over the subsequent year-and-a-half is nothing to sneeze at, especially given the game's well-publicized problems and complete absence from the PlayStation Store for much of that time.

Rather than taking the loss and walking away after the car-crash release, CD Projekt has continued to work on Cyberpunk 2077, pushing back plans for new content and expansions in order to focus on fixes and performance improvements. Those efforts are undoubtedly paying off, but the game also got a big bump from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the anime that debuted on Netflix earlier this month. It convinced Wes to give the game another shot (or at least think about it) and plenty of others felt the same way. The average and peak concurrent player counts on Steam skyrocketed, and it bounced back into the middle of Steam's top 10 games by player count, too—a hell of a comeback by any measure.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.