CD Projekt has deemed Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty a industrial success after revealing it hit comparable numbers to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.
Talking to IGN, CD Projekt confirmed Phantom Liberty has an connect price of roughly 23%, which means 23% of gamers who purchased the bottom Cyberpunk 2077 additionally purchased the growth. As revealed by co-CEO Michał Nowakowski on X/Twitter, The Witcher 3’s Hearts of Stone growth had a 22% connect price and Blood and Wine had a 24% connect price inside three months of launch.
What propels Phantom Liberty even additional, nevertheless, is its launch round two years and 9 months after the bottom Cyberpunk 2077 launched. Hearts of Stone arrived round 5 months after The Witcher 3 and Blood and Wine arrived round one yr after, when downloadable content material is historically launched and normal engagement is usually greater.
Obsidian Leisure studio design director Josh Sawyer pointed this out on X/Twitter in November 2023, when CD Projekt revealed Phantom Liberty had bought 4.3 million copies with an connect price of 20%, saying his studio hopes for round a 25% connect price on DLC launched inside a number of months, “so a 20% connect price on an growth two-and-a-half years after launch is fairly spectacular”.
This prolonged size of time between the bottom recreation and Phantom Liberty launching — sparked by CD Projekt having to handle myriad points that even noticed Cyberpunk 2077 faraway from the PlayStation Retailer after its preliminary launch — seemingly brought on the developer to query making the growth in any respect.
“To be sincere, the choice to undergo with the growth so lengthy after launch of the single-player recreation was a bit counterintuitive,” Nowakowski mentioned within the put up. “However what occurred is proof to us that stable content material that individuals are pleased with is the way in which to go.”
CD Projekt beforehand revealed Phantom Liberty bought greater than 5 million copies in 2023 after it added a brand new space to Cyberpunk 2077’s Night time Metropolis and a spy thriller storyline starring Idris Elba upon its launch in September. The growth was acquired very effectively by critics, with IGN giving it a 9/10 in our overview.
The developer launched the ultimate main replace for Cyberpunk 2077 in December 2023, primarily ending the sport’s three-year journey of lively post-launch improvement. Consideration at CD Projekt Pink has now switched to its subsequent initiatives, which embrace Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel, codenamed Orion, and the subsequent mainline Witcher recreation, codenamed Polaris.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll speak about The Witcher all day.
