Cyberpunk 2077 Pre-Orders are Significantly Higher Than The Witcher 3
With less than two weeks to go before the oft-delayed launch of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red has revealed that the number of pre-orders for the game are higher than any game they’ve ever released. The detail was mentioned in the company’s third quarter investor call, along with more information about how much of the sales were digital.
Cyberpunk 2077 Pre-Orders Ahead of Release
Speaking during the recent investor call, CD Projekt Red CFO Piotr Nielubowicz explains that Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders thus far have been “very strong”. Furthermore, he revealed that significantly more pre-orders are digital compared to The Witcher 3. Indeed, he expects the digital side of things to be; “definitely farther than we had on The Witcher 3, and definitely more than 50%.”
This isn’t wholly surprising. After all, consumers have been trending further towards digital games over retail purchases for years; a trend only accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, when it comes to post-launch sales, digital tends to comprise the vast majority. (Many post-launch sales come during events like online platform sales, after all.)
Nielubowicz went on to reveal that around 99% of post-launch sales for The Witcher 1 and 2 were digital. (With a similar heavily weighted figure for The Witcher 3.) As such, they expect things to be similar for Cyberpunk 2077. This means that fans can expect a focus on marketing through digital platforms rather than retail.
In other statements, CD Projekt revealed that Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders are “visibly higher” than those of The Witcher 3. Pointing to the company’s cash flow, they note that the revenue from Cyberpunk 2077 pre-orders appears as deferred revenue. This means that the company won’t officially reveal it until after release. However, the studio noted that they have recorded $20.7 million in deferred revenue in Q3 of 2020, the; “biggest increase of deferred revenues we ever experienced.”
As a result, the release of Cyberpunk 2077 in early December is extremely likely to be their most successful ever. Indeed, it wouldn’t be surprising if it were to prove the most successful launch of 2020. Especially so because Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War – perhaps the biggest potential contender for biggest launch – failed to hit #1 in its own launch week last month.