CD Projekt spent $85M developing and promoting Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

CD Projekt Red spent over $63 million developing Cyberpunk 2077 expansion pack Phantom Liberty.

The Polish studio shared the figure during its Investor Day in Warsaw and noted that, according to preliminary data, the production costs related to Phantom Liberty totaled around 275 million PLN ($63.1 million).

The global marketing costs for the high-profile DLC were approximately 95 million PLN ($21.8 million), indicating the studio dropped a combined $85 million on production and promotional efforts.

Phantom Liberty achieved over 3 million sales in one week, while the original Cyberpunk 2077 base game has sold over 25 million copies worldwide.

CD Projekt Red's entire software portfolio, which includes The Witcher trilogy and Cyberpunk 2077, has now surpassed 100 million sales. Phantom Liberty debuted on September 26, 2023, and represented the culmination of CD Projekt's efforts to rehabilitate Cyberpunk 2077.

Has CD Projekt pulled Cyberpunk 2077 back from the brink?

The neon-soaked RPG was heavily criticised at launch after players highlighted a litany of performance issues and bugs, with last-generation consoles taking the brunt of that hit. The situation resulted in the title being pulled from the PlayStation Store by Sony.

Microsoft also offered to refund players who were disappointed with the title, but stopped short of delisting the game.

Since then, the company has released a series of patches to add in new features, functionalities, and address those performance issues, including a next-generation update and a sweeping 2.0 patch that completely revamped the title's combat AI, cyberware, skill trees, and perks while adding entirely new features like vehicle combat, car chases, and a more robust police system.

The debut of animated prequel Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix also helped generate fresh interest in Cyberpunk 2077, and there's now another adaptation in the works. Speaking to investors, CD Projekt revealed it's working with production company Anonymous Content to develop a live-action project set in the world of Cyberpunk. 

The collaboration will see the studio work directly with Anonymous’ head of television Garret Kemble, director of development Ryan Schwartz, and CCO David Levine, the latter of whom previously served as HBO’s EVP and co-head of drama for over a decade.