Cyberpunk 2077 Hits 87,000 Steam Players as 70% Off Sale Lifts It to No. 5

Q: Why does CDPR’s CEO believe the game's redemption is incomplete despite its massive sales and recent resurgence?

CDPR’s co-CEO Michał Nowakowski says the redemption is still incomplete because, in his view, the studio has not fully regained the trust it lost at launch. Even with Cyberpunk 2077 now selling 35 million copies, Phantom Liberty adding at least 10 million more, and Steam player numbers surging again, Nowakowski has said he is “not 100 percent convinced” the game has completed its redemption arc. His concern is not commercial performance but reputation: he believes some players were so disappointed by the game’s broken 2020 release that their faith in CDPR may be gone “indefinitely.” That launch damaged a studio image that had been exceptionally strong after The Witcher 3. While years of patches, the 2.0 overhaul, and Phantom Liberty have changed the conversation around Cyberpunk 2077, Nowakowski appears to see redemption as something broader than sales or player counts. For him, it means fully restoring credibility with the audience, and he does not think that has happened yet. He has suggested that the real test will be future releases. In other words, CDPR may only complete that redemption if upcoming games such as The Witcher 4 and the Cyberpunk sequel prove the company has learned from Cyberpunk 2077’s troubled debut.

2 articles · Updated · Forbes · Jun 29

87,000 concurrent Steam players pushed Cyberpunk 2077 to its highest level in 2.5 years, roughly double its usual nightly average of about 40,000.
$18 pricing on Steam—down 70% from $60—drove the surge, lifting the game to No. 5 on Steam's revenue chart despite no new content update.
Phantom Liberty, sold separately at $18 from $30, remains a key draw after helping revive the game in 2023; without that expansion and the 2.0 update, the player milestone would reach back 3.5 years.
35 million base-game sales and at least 10 million for Phantom Liberty give CD Projekt a strong backdrop as it develops The Witcher 4 and a Cyberpunk sequel.