Who doesn’t love a comeback story? Probably the people who lose because of it, but that’s another topic. In video games, a comeback is usually for things like new consoles or a new entry in a franchise after a previous one didn’t do so well. Assassin’s Creed is an excellent example of this. The franchise started strong, hit a huge rut, and came back swinging with its more recent titles. However, for Cyberpunk 2077, its comeback was within its life cycle, which is not typical. That goes double when you consider how badly the game launched and how many obstacles it needed to clear to get to this point.
What point is that? The official Twitter handle for the game revealed that for the last four weeks, over one million players have been active in Cyberpunk 2077. To be clear, this isn’t across one platform. It’s across all of them, a combined number. Still, that’s an impressive number based on where they were before things went to this point. As you’ll see below, the CD Projekt Red team is overwhelmed by fans’ support and are grateful to those who have helped fuel this comeback.
When the game launched in December 2020, it sold millions instantly. Sales weren’t the issue with this title. It was how the game performed on console and PC. If you had a console, you couldn’t play the game as intended due to bugs, lag, and other issues. PC gamers had it better off, but only if you had a high-end gaming PC that could handle the title.
The release was so troubling that places like the PlayStation Store stopped selling the title until it got to a more stable position, and refunds were offered to those who were dissatisfied. We can say with certainty that many gamers were unsatisfied.
So how did this turnaround happen? It was a two-fold comeback. First, to their credit, CD Projekt Red did everything they could to fix the game, release patches to undo the bugs, and so on. It took some significant overhauls, and DLC had to be cut back, but they did it.
The real shot in the arm, though, came from a spinoff project of theirs. An anime called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The 10-episode Netflix series came out in September and received massive praise from fans and critics. The anime was set in the game’s world but told its own story. The high-quality visuals and voice-acting led players to want to try out Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time or give it a second chance.
The results speak for themselves. The title has been selling well on Steam since the anime’s release, and now, we know over a million players are consistently playing it. Welcome back, Night City.
Source: Twitter