2019 was a pretty good year for CD Projekt Red. They re-released one of the greatest action RPG’s of all time, The Wticher 3: Wild Hunt, for the Nintendo Switch, reaped the benefits of the highly successful TV adaptation on Netflix, and showcased more of their anticipated IP, Cyberpunk 2077. All of these accomplishments alone would merit well deserved pat on the back, but thanks to the company’s annual financial report, we now know that they enjoyed much more than that. In the report, it states that CD Projekt Red’s made roughly $124 million, a whopping 44% jump from the previous year.
As if this wasn’t enough, due to both The Witcher 3’s Switch port and the live action show, a lot of people went back to the 2015 Game of The Year for some more monster hunting. This lead to a resurgence in the games popularity and catapulted its lifetime sales to approximately 28 million. Thanks to this, The Witcher 3:Wild Hunt sold roughly 6.5 million units in 2019 and had its second best year in terms of sales and only behind the game’s launch year of 2015.
To put the games overall success in perspective, all you need to do is look at the series lifetime sales. Collectively, 2007’s The Witcher, 2012’s The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and 2015’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have sold more than 40 million copies. With 28 million strong, The Witcher 3 accounts for more than half of this statistic, and is essentially carrying the franchise on its back at this point. The majority of these sales were digital, with the largest amount coming from PC. Only 11% were accounted from the Nintendo Switch port.
While CD Projekt Red can look back at 2019 with a big smile, it’s more than likely that they’re keeping a close eye on the state of 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has easily changed the course of many peoples lives, including those in the video game industry. Before all of this took place, the company announced that Cyberpunk 2077 would be delayed from its initial launch date of April 16 and changed to the now current September 17 date. The company has stated in the report that the game is still on track for that date, despite having the entire development team working remotely. Hopefully it doesn’t get indefinitely delayed like The Last of Us Part II.