The disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077 hasn't only soiled developer/publisher CD Projekt Red's reputation, but also its market value by an insane percentage.
cyberpunk 2077 johnny silverhand 2
PlayStation Lifestyle reports that the Polish company's stock has plummeted a massive 75 % since the horrible Cyberpunk launch. That's a hard number to think of in a business sense, and one can imagine that investors are absolutely not happy with the way the stock has performed. Just before the polarizing game was released, the company's stock sat at $85 a share. Now, it has dropped to just under $20 per share.
The numbers come from Business Insider Poland, who also reports that another has now taken the mantle of the best Polish gaming company. In the wake of CD Projekt's demise, Dying Light developer Techland (based in the city of Wrocław) is now worth more than CDPR with a $2.2 billion US market cap. The Cyberpunk 2077 developer is worth just under that number at $2.07 billion US.
One might see that even with the terrible Cyberpunk launch, CD Projekt's market value is still pretty high. But consider that their pre-Cyberpunk 2077 market cap stood at a way, way higher $8.2 billion US (via Game World Observer), and you'll see the problem right there.
It is also worth noting here that Techland is actually NOT a publicly trading company, as per the original Game World Observer report. The $2.2 billion US figure is an educated guess, and the studio's market cap could be even higher considering other factors. But this is a story for another time.
Either way, CD Projekt Red has never really recovered from the terrible Cyberpunk launch, which was punctuated by a massive data breach that saw the source codes for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 get sold for millions of dollars on the dark web. But perhaps they still have time and resources to turn things around and regain their reputation as the gaming industry's "Chosen One."
Many gamers now know of how infamous the launch for Cyberpunk was, which is considered as one of the most horrible ones ever. The last-gen console versions of the game were so broken and CDPR allegedly knew this, but kept things under wraps by only sending reviewers PC copies of the game. This ended up in a public apology, where co-founder Marcin Iwinski vowed that the studio would "do better."
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Can CDPR Turn This Thing Around?
Even the most loyal fans/followers of the company aren't confident about CDPR's chances after Cyberpunk 2077. But perhaps the studio still has a bit of time and resources left to right the clearly sinking ship.
cd projekt red
First off, there's still the planned DLC expansions for Cyberpunk, which the developer/publisher confirmed is still in the works back in April. The expansions have long been rumored, but it was only by then that they actually confirmed the existence of such. Furthermore, there's still no release date or even a vague release window.
Another one is the likewise confirmed new Witcher game. The title is being built using Unreal Engine 5, which is due to CDPR's "multi-year strategic partnership" with Epic Games (via PCGamer). If CD Projekt really wants to repair its broken relationship with gamers, these two projects need to absolutely blow things out of the park - or it will be the end for the former "Chosen One."
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This article is posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce