Cyberpunk 2077's next-gen patch is attracting more console players

CD Projekt's first-quarter results for fiscal year 2022 come with some interesting data about the sales performance of Cyberpunk 2077. During the first quarter, developer CD Projekt Red released a major updated for the game that improved its performance on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. 

That update (released on February 15) appears to be driving increased sales of console versions of the game.

This statistic comes from CD Projekt's investor presentation, which showed rough sales data from before and after the release of patch 1.5. Though the company didn't provide precise numbers, its report to investors was that not only did overall game sales increase, but console versions of the game are selling better than before the update

That does make a fairly intuitive amount of sense. Up until now, players could only experience Cyberpunk 2077 either on PC or using versions of the game optimized for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. If you owned a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S, you were effectively buying a last-gen version of the game until this update rolled out.

Now, console owners can check out the version of Cyberpunk 2077 meant for their device. And apparently they are, in (relative) droves. It's also interesting to see that the preferred console of Cyberpunk 2077 players in this period was PlayStation 5.

Those increased sales are also visible in CD Projekt's finacial results. For the three-month period ending March 31, 2022, CD Projekt raked in 216 million PLN (about $50 million), a nine percent increase from the same quarter last year.

Net profits for the quarter clocked in at 68.9 million PLN, up 112 percent from the same quarter last year (which, to be fair, was when CD Projekt was dealing with the fallout of Cyberpunk 2077's rocky release).

Without solid numbers, it's hard to tell if Cyberpunk 2077 will have the same long-tail sales effect as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but CD Projekt's investors are likely relieved to see that the fabled next-gen patch did in fact boost sales of the game.

Elsewhere, the company is continuing to plug away on the next Witcher game, as well as new Cyberpunk 2077 updates. The CD Projekt-owned and Boston-based studio The Molasses Flood is working on its own project not related to either game.