CD Projekt has reserved more than $50 million to cover losses from Cyberpunk 2077 refunds
CD Projekt shared information about reserves that relate to possible losses from Cyberpunk 2077 refunds. In total, the company has pledged more than $50 million for this expense item, based on current data and sales estimates.The Ars Technica portal drew attention to the data.
Information about this is on the 73rd page of the CD Projekt financial report in the “Other Provisions” section.
The total amount of the “reserve for refunds” is 194.5 million zlotys ($51.4 million). CD Projekt notes that this amount is based on Cyberpunk 2077 sales data in the fourth fiscal quarter (ended December 31).
What makes up the volume of the reserve?The long—term reserve is 145.6 million zlotys ($38.5 million).
- Its volume is determined based on information received from distributors and retail chains, data on retail sales, the number of physical copies in warehouses, as well as sales estimates for 2021.The short—term reserve is 40.46 million zlotys ($10.7 million).
- Its volume is based on sales for the fourth quarter and sales agreed with distributors, which will be reflected in the report for the first quarter of 2021.The cost of the Help Me Refund program is 8.45 million zlotys ($2.23 million).
- It was within its framework that CD Projekt helped to return funds to customers who contacted them directly. The company estimated the number of refands under this program at 30 thousand.The exact number of Cyberpunk 2077 refunds outside Help Me Refund, given the lack of data on refunds at different sites and physical copies returned to stores, cannot yet be estimated.
If we assume that each refund costs CD Projekt $60, then by the end of 2020 about 215 thousand copies of Cyberpunk 2077 were returned — taking into account the volume of the short-term reserve and the costs of Help Me Refund. This is approximately 1.5% of the total number of copies sold. However, this is a very rough estimate that does not take into account many factors.
In its annual report, CD Projekt also reported record revenue and reported that Cyberpunk 2077 had sold 13.7 million copies by the end of 2020. Despite the impressive result, it turned out to be lower than even the most pessimistic forecasts.
A number of analysts note the worsened sales dynamics associated with the technical condition of Cyberpunk 2077 on release and numerous scandals around the project. M Science expects that in the first quarter the game will sell only 500 thousand copies. However, this does not exclude a new surge in sales — for example, after the release of the next generation version and the return of the game to the PlayStation.
