Despite having a bit of a rocky launch to say the least, Cyberpunk 2077 reportedly had the largest digital video game launch ever, selling over 10 million digital copies across all platforms. This information comes from SuperData’s worldwide digital games market report for December 2020, in which Cyberpunk 2077 topped the PC charts and placed in the top 3 for console sales.
In its launch month of December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 sold 10.2 million digital copies. Digital PC sales accounted for roughly 80% of this total number. Cyberpunk’s disastrous launch led to a flood of refund requests that eventually got the game pulled from the PlayStation Store, but the digital sales estimate provided by SuperData has already factored in these refund requests.
There was a large group of customers who refunded their copies of the game last month, but SuperData’s report “shows that refunds did not substantially affect the game’s aggregate sales.” CD Projekt Red has slowly but surely been releasing hotfixes and patches for the game with many more planned for 2021, so most players likely did not refund the game so they could wait for fixes.
Cyberpunk 2077’s launch did wonders for digital game sales revenue, helping digital game sales reach $12 billion in December 2020. This is a 15% year-over-year increase, and as a result, December 2020 was the highest ever month of digital game sales revenue. Console earnings increase 16% year over year, but Cyberpunk’s overwhelming PC presence caused PC earnings to increase by a whopping 40% compared to 2019.
According to SuperData’s report, Cyberpunk 2077 wasn’t the only reason that digital sales skyrocketed in December 2020. The report notes that Fortnite earnings were at their highest following a peak in August 2020 that coincided with the Marvel-themed season. The new Marvel content also caused a resurgence in Fortnite’s player numbers, which were larger than at any point since August 2019. The Galactus live event that capped off the Marvel season also brought in a record 15.3 million concurrent players according to SuperData.
Grand Theft Auto V also continues to dominate the digital sales market, as Grand Theft Auto Online had its highest monthly digital earnings ever. GTA Online received its largest update ever in December in the form of the Cayo Perico Heist, bringing a new playable area to the game for the first time since launch. SuperData also notes that GTA V player numbers in December 2020 grew 46% from November, but the game did not exceed totals reached earlier in 2020.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War launched in November, but it had the highest digital earnings in December 2020 for consoles. This is typical for Call of Duty thanks to the Christmas sales bump, but Black Ops Cold War saw a particularly successful December as a result of its integration with Call of Duty: Warzone. Black Ops Cold War Season One kicked off in December and brought a ton of new content and in-game purchases to the game, and all of these items were also available within Warzone. Call of Duty tends to top the charts every year regardless, but Warzone continues to be a massive success for Activision and it seems to have propelled the newest Call of Duty title to new heights.
Finally, Among Us is still going strong. Player numbers fell from their November peak according to SuperData, but it was “still 2.8 times as popular as the next-popular game, Roblox.” Among Us also came to Nintendo Switch in December, selling 3.2 million copies and was the highest-earning version of the game for the month. Even with its low entry price of $5, Among Us brought in significant amounts of digital revenue thanks to its overwhelming popularity among casual players and its dominance on platforms like Twitch and YouTube.
Cyberpunk 2077Â is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia.
