Cyberpunk 2077 tops 30 million copies sold, Polaris enters full production, R&D costs up 390%: Inside CD Projekt's Q3 results

CD Projekt has released its financial report for the third quarter ended October 31, 2024. The Polish company faced an expected decline in both revenue and profit following last year’s success of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Financial highlights

• According to its earnings presentation, CD Projekt reached PLN 227.5 million ($55.3 million) in revenue in Q3, down 49% compared to the same period last year.
• Cyberpunk 2077 and its Phantom Liberty expansion accounted for 64% of the company’s quarterly sales of products and services, followed by The Witcher franchise (30%).
• Interestingly, revenue generated by The Witcher series increased 44% year-over-year to PLN 54.4 million ($13.2 million), while the Cyberpunk IP fell 67% to PLN 115.6 million ($28.1 million).
• Such a sharp drop in revenue and product sales is due to the lack of new major releases compared to Q3 2023 when CD Projekt launched the Phantom Liberty expansion.
• GOG also experienced a decline, with its revenue down 41% year-over-year to PLN 49.3 million ($12 million).
• North America remained the top region by revenue, accounting for 74.2% of the company’s Q3 sales. It is followed by Europe (17.4%), and Asia (2.4%). The share of domestic sales (Poland) was 4.4%.

• Net profit fell 61% year-over-year to PLN 78.1 million ($19 million). Despite the downturn, CD Projekt is generally satisfied with its financial performance. “Our cumulative net profit for 2024 is already nearing a quarter billion PLN [$60.8 million] — even though we’re only on the cusp of the most intensive quarter in terms of sales,” CFO Piotr Nielubowicz said in a statement.
• For comparison, the company reached around $120 million in net profit last year, thanks to the strong launch of Phantom Liberty. This was the second-best year in the history of CD Projekt, behind only 2020, when it surpassed $300 million in annual net income.
• CD Projekt also confirmed its plans to set a new long-term profit goal for FY25-28. The company expects to reach a net income of PLN 4 billion ($971 million) for the period.
• This is part of the company’s internal incentive program to “align top managers’ goals with the CD Projekt Group objectives.” The resolution will be considered at the extraordinary general meeting with shareholders on November 28.
• The only way to achieve such an ambitious target is to ship a new major title until the end of 2028, such as the next Witcher game.

Game sales and development pipeline

• CD Projekt announced that Cyberpunk 2077 has now sold over 30 million units globally (as of November 26). This includes both base copies of the game and those included in the Ultimate Edition bundle.
• The company last updated the figures for Cyberpunk 2077 was in October 2023, when the game surpassed 25 million units sold.
• The Phantom Liberty expansion crossed the 8 million mark in just over a year. This also includes copies sold as part of the Ultimate Edition.

• In Q3, CD Projekt spent PLN 22.5 million ($5.4 million) on R&D activities, up 391% compared to the same period last year. This expense item is related to Project Orion (the next Cyberpunk game, not far from entering pre-production), Canis Majoris (The Witcher 1 remake, in the research phase), and Hadar (a new IP).
• R&D costs for the first three quarters of 2024 skyrocketed by 770% to nearly PLN 68.5 million ($16.6 million), highlighting the active work on the initial research phases for games in the company’s pipeline.
• Development expenditures on projects in development reached PLN 64.4 million ($15.6 million) in Q3, almost flat year-over-year. With Project Polaris, the next major installment in The Witcher series, entering full production, this expense item is expected to increase in the coming quarters.
• “I’m proud to confirm that several weeks ago the Polaris team wrapped up preproduction and moved on to full-scale production — the most intensive phase of development,” CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski said in a statement. “We are very pleased with our progress on this project, and I wish to thank the team for its dedication.”
• As of October 31, CD Projekt had 650 developers involved in ongoing projects. The Polaris team slightly decreased from 410 people as of July 31 to 400. It is followed by 64 devs working on Orion, a third of whom are based at CDPR’s Boston studio and two-thirds are spread across Poland and Canada (via the company’s earnings call).