CD Projekt spent $125 million on Cyberpunk 2077 post-launch, repairing the game’s reputation with the Edgerunners and Update 2.0 patches alongside the well-received Phantom Liberty expansion.
CD Projekt announced on October 5 that the expansion starring Idris Elba cost a hefty 275 million Polish Zloty (around $62.7 million) to develop and approximately 95 million Polish Zloty (around $21.6 million) to market.
Chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz also said during the CD Projekt Investor Day presentation that bringing Cyberpunk up to next-gen console standards, presumably including the game-changing Update 2.0, cost 178 million Polish Zloty (around $40.9 million).
The three figures together, combining the cost of Phantom Liberty with the amount spent bringing Cyberpunk 2077 back from its poor state at launch, total 546 million Polish Zloty, so around $125.9 million.
Cyberpunk 2077 itself cost 1.2 billion Polish Zloty, or around $316 million at the time. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt comparatively cost 306 million Polish Zloty, around $81 million at the time, though with inflation comes closer to $105 million.
Comparisons from beyond CD Projekt come from the Xbox versus Federal Trade Commission trial in June 2023, where poorly redacted documents revealed The Last of Us Part 2 cost $200 million to make while Horizon: Forbidden West cost $212.
Despite the hefty cost of turning things around, CD Projekt has arguably pulled off one of the biggest turnaround stories in video game history with Cyberpunk 2077. Launching in such a poor state the game was delisted from the PlayStation Store, Cyberpunk now has a “Very Positive” rating on PC platform Steam with 87% of users recommending it.
CD Projekt’s Investor Day also saw the announcement of a live action Cyberpunk project, Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty sales figures, and a management shake-up at the company.
Phantom Liberty arrived on September 26, with Update 2.0 laying its foundation a few days earlier. It completely revamped Cyberpunk 2077 with features such as a new perk system and improved AI and also brought closure to an Elon Musk fan theory, a reference to the late racing legend Ken Block, and bizarre additions to the game’s biggest mystery.
Bizarrely, CD Projekt even included a way for players to turn down the events of the paid expansion altogether, with certain dialogue options locking the missions away for good.
In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty completes an immense turnaround for CD Projekt Red’s future RPG kickstarted with the anime spin-off, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and its latest 2.0 Update.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
