75% of Cyberpunk 2077‘s Nintendo Switch 2 sales were physical, CD Projekt has confirmed.
CD Projekt revealed the eye-catching stat in its latest financial results, confirming that not only did the action-RPG benefit from positioning itself as one of Nintendo Switch 2’s day-one launch games, but it also found success by making the game available as physical media.
“We believe that thanks to its high quality and Switch 2 exclusive enhancements, Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition is well positioned to benefit from the [Switch 2’s] growing user base,” said Michał Novakovski, joint CEO. “As of June, the vast majority of sales — which is around 70% — came from physical copies sold and that reflects the strength of our offering.”
Novakovski believes this is, in part, because “the entire game, along with its expansion, is fully contained on a 64 gigabyte cartridge, providing a plug and play experience which players find particularly attractive.” And that has certainly proven to be the case, with 75.4% of all Cyberpunk 2077’s Switch 2 sales being physical.
It comes as fans continue to debate the practice of publishers providing Game-Key Cards in Switch 2 boxed games instead of a physical cartridge. It’s proven to be a divisive practice among some users, not least because while it allows collectors to have a game’s box on their shelf, they’re essentially useless unless your console is connected to the internet.
The practice is so controversial, however, that Nintendo has launched a survey designed to poll the Switch 2 userbase on its thoughts surrounding digital and physical games, with questions designed to probe the reasons you might consider one option over another. Nintendo’s also interested in finding out if your attitude to digital downloads has shifted over time.
“Our developers truly made the most of the console’s features, offering new exclusive ways to play Cyberpunk 2077,” Novakovski added. “We showcased them in a series of hands on presentations attracting praise from the player community and gaming media. And although we clearly see that sales of the on the new console are currently dominated by Nintendo’s first party titles, we were very pleased with Cyberpunk being among the best selling third party games.”
“The Switch 2 might pack much better hardware than the original, but a game I’m still surprised to see running at all (much less pretty well) on a Nintendo system is Cyberpunk 2077,” we wrote in our Nintendo Switch 2 Cyberpunk 2007 review update. “I spent a few days with CD Projekt Red’s latest port to get a feel for how it runs, how it holds up, and how the Switch 2’s fancy new mouse controls work when applied to a high-octane FPS. The answer across the board is impressive, and if you haven’t had the pleasure of exploring Night City before, this seems like a solid way to do so.”
Cyberpunk 2077 sequel Cyberpunk 2 has officially entered pre-production. The studio made the announcement as part of its latest financial results last month, where it said the Phantom Liberty expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 had hit an impressive 10 million copies sold.
As for Nintendo’s handheld itself? The Nintendo Switch 2 debuted in June to become the fastest-selling hardware ever in the U.S., shooting spending on games to new records. Spending on hardware was up a whopping 249% year-over-year thanks to the console’s debut, reaching $978 million and greatly surpassing the previous monthly record from June 2008 of $608 million. In total, the Switch 2 sold 1.6 million units in the U.S. during its launch month, beating the PlayStation 4’s previous sales record of 1.1 million units in November of 2013.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
