Cyberpunk 2077’s PlayStation Store removal may be hurting Xbox and PC sales too, CD Projekt says

CD Projekt has discussed its ongoing efforts to get Cyberpunk 2077 back on the PlayStation Store – and the negative impact its removal is having on sales.

Following three delays, the highly anticipated RPG launched in December 2020 with a host of technical problems, most notably on last-gen consoles, resulting in the title being pulled from the PlayStation Store about a week after its release.

At the time, CD Projekt pledged to improve the overall experience via future patches—it said this week’s 1.2 update includes over 500 improvements—but also said customers not wanting to keep the game could opt for a refund.

Three and half months after it was delisted from the PlayStation Store, CD Projekt was asked during a conference call on Tuesday when the game might return to Sony’s online marketplace.

“So, regarding this process, we have published several patches, we have just published a really big one yesterday, and we have published several hotfixes, and each and every one of them brings us closer to going back to the PSN store,” said Michał Nowakowski, CD Projekt’s SVP of business development.

“However, the final decision you have to understand belongs to Sony. We do believe we’re closer than further, but of course the final call is theirs, so let’s wait and see.”

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Later in the call, he was asked to provide an updated sales forecast for the game. While Nowakowski didn’t offer a figure, he said sales would be heavily impacted by two major factors – the release of the next-gen version in the second half of the year, and the game’s return to the PlayStation Store.

Cyberpunk’s absence from Sony’s digital storefront was possibly hurting sales across all platforms, Nowakowski said.

“As far as Cyberpunk sales for this year are concerned, first of all I believe they will be driven by two major elements that we keep working on. First, patching and updating the game, and this should also result in coming back to the Sony store.

“Obviously, Sony’s decision is much awaited by many gamers and we believe it may also influence purchasing decisions of not only those playing on PlayStation but also on other platforms, so this is important to us.”

Nowakowski also said on Tuesday that CD Projekt’s future games will have “much shorter” marketing campaigns following various issues with how it communicated Cyberpunk 2077.

“We’ll wait until much closer to a game’s launch before we start showing things like trailers, demos, or going in-depth about mechanics, etc.

“And when campaigns do start, we aim to properly manage expectations across all platforms,” Nowakowski said. “This means focusing on communication of polished game footage, not concepts. We’ll also showcase footage of our games on all platforms they will be released on.”

CD Projekt also confirmed on Tuesday that it has cancelled plans to release a triple-A Cyberpunk multiplayer game.