40 Million Copies Later, CD Projekt Isn't Sure Cyberpunk 2077 Is Fully Redeemed
Cyberpunk 2077 just hit 40 million copies sold. That's a big number. It's also one of the stranger comeback stories in gaming, and the people who made it aren't even sure the comeback is complete.
Remember How Bad It Was
The game launched in 2020. Sony pulled it from the PlayStation Store. Not delisted quietly. Pulled. That's not something that happens to games. That's the kind of thing that ends studios.
It sold 13 million copies in the first 10 days anyway, which tells you how much hype CD Projekt had built. People bought it before the reviews landed, before the refunds started, before the memes about the bugs became their own cultural moment.
The early buyer experience on consoles was genuinely bad. Not "rough around the edges" bad. Bad.
What 40 Million Actually Means
The milestone got announced by co-CEO Michał Nowakowski, and it's real. The Steam user rating is "very positive," which tracks. The game that exists now is not the game that shipped in 2020.
For context: The Witcher 3 has sold more than 65 million copies. That's CD Projekt's ceiling right now, the game that built their reputation before Night City nearly wrecked it. Cyberpunk is at 40 million. It's not there yet, but it's not dead either.
Most games that get pulled from storefronts don't come back. This one did, and 40 million is a genuine vindication of something.
The Quote That Stuck With Me
Here's the interesting part. In June 2026, Nowakowski said he's "not 100 per cent convinced we went through the full redemption arc." That's the CEO of the company that made the game, talking about it after the 40 million milestone, and he's hedging.
That's either honest or it's managing expectations for whatever comes next. Possibly both. I don't think he'd say it if there wasn't something behind it. Could mean the brand damage from launch still shows up in ways the sales numbers don't capture. Could mean the internal team still feels it. Hard to say.
But "not fully redeemed" from the person whose job it is to say the redemption is complete is worth paying attention to.
Fall 2026: Edgerunners 2
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is coming this fall. The first one did a lot of work rehabilitating the game's image. People watched it and then went back to Night City. Sales bumped. Reviews got re-evaluated.
A second anime could do the same thing, or it could be diminishing returns. The original Edgerunners hit at the right moment. We'll see if lightning strikes twice.
The Actual Takeaway
40 million is real. The game is good now. If you bounced off it at launch and never went back, it's worth another look. If you've been playing it continuously since 2020, you already know that.
The launch was a disaster. The recovery was real. Whether that adds up to "full redemption" is apparently still an open question, even internally. Which is more interesting than a clean narrative either way.
Source: Pcgamer