Next-gen Cyberpunk 2077 doubles CD Projekt's Q1 profits

gamesindustry.biz:

James Batchelor

Editor-in-Chief

Friday 27th May 2022

CD Projekt

CD Projekt RED

The recovery of Cyberpunk 2077 continues as CD Projekt reveals the release of the next-gen version resulted in a profit surge during the first quarter of this year.

The Polish games firm released its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2022 last night. Here's what you need to know:

Revenue: 216.1 million PLN ($50.4 million) up 9% year-on-year

Operating costs: 83.2 million PLN ($19.4 million), down 10%

Earnings before interest and tax: 85.3 million PLN ($19.9 million), up 98%

Net Profit: 68.9 million PLN ($16.1 million) - more than double the net profit of Q1 2021, up 112%

Net Profitability: 31.9%, up from 16.4%

The biggest event for the CD Projekt Group was the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, as well as a major update for all platforms.

CEO Adam Kiciński said the launch "had a positive effect on the game's perception and sales figures, especially on consoles," with the game accounting for the majority of the company's Q1 revenues.

In a presentation for investors, a graph showed that between January 1 and February 14 (the day before the next-gen update went live), the vast majority of Cyberpunk sales were on PC. Between February 15 and March 31, total sales of the game more than doubled, with the majority being on PlayStation and a significant portion being on Xbox. PC sales remained largely flat.

It's a long-awaited boost for a game that has been beset by troubles since launch. The next-gen versions were originally due to be released last year, but were delayed to Q1 2022.

With the enhanced version of Cyberpunk 2077 now in the wild, Kiciński says the "bulk of our development capacity is currently dedicated to