Despite Everything, Cyberpunk 2077 Was A Steam Top Seller & Most-Played Title In 2021

Screenshot: CD Projekt Red

Maybe that was an understatement when we said Cyberpunk was having its first “good day” when it made its way to the top of the Steam charts earlier this year. Ultimately, the beleaguered role-playing game, which has received a number of updates since its dumpster burned down, was circulating quietly throughout 2021 on at least one storefront.

Monday, PC giant Valve released a bunch of juicy information regarding what worked well on its popular platform. There’s a lot in there that you wouldn’t expect, at least compared to popular media and community narratives. Battlefield 2042 is selling very well despite little hype, but maybe I should expect that when he has such a pervasive ad campaign, he’s now replaced my nocturnal paralysis demon. Amazon MMO New World, Valheim and Naraka: Bladepoint, are also some great, totally new inclusions in the bestseller list. Then you have the mandatory inclusions, like Dota 2 and the totally unkillable GTA V.

Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t make the “Platinum” cup, where these games reside, but it did make an appearance just a stone’s throw from the “Silver” level, where games like Resident Evil Village live. What’s worth noting is that “best sellers” don’t mean number of copies, but rather revenue, which takes into account copies but also in-game transactions and DLC. A game like Cyberpunk, which is solo and doesn’t yet offer microtransactions or downloadable content, probably struggles to compare to games that offer a lot of online experiences. A lot of these multiplayer games have totally different business models, and they don’t have all of these other elements weighing them down.

2021 has been, by all accounts, an uphill battle for Cyberpunk and its developers. Remember, CD Projekt Red started the year with Cyberpunk 2077 still deregistered from the PlayStation Store due to its approximate condition, and to make matters worse, had a giant security hole that saw the source code of the game be held for ransom. Updates have been distributed throughout the year, and promises of next-gen releases, DLC, and other updates keep coming, but so do reports of the apparent tightening. . And even when some things were resolved, like his possible return to PSN, it wasn’t all cheerful: in this case, Sony has warned users that the game is still janky.

Now, despite all of this, we know that the game was profitable for the studio from the start due to the large number of preorders based on hype and the like. What you wouldn’t necessarily expect is that that money will keep pouring in even after all the headlines and glitch compilations. Certainly the game has indeed recruited a few staunch evangelists who love it despite all the flaws, or perhaps saw no flaws in it, if they were playing on a sufficiently powerful machine. Yes, the game has received countless fixes, but there are still many reports of technical issues. You don’t exactly see a No Man’s Sky type turnaround here. And even!

The money coming in must mean people, right? While he was a little lower down the list on the $ front, on the raw time front, he killed. It’s in the “Over 200,000 Peak Simultaneous Players” category, a category that excludes anything that has had its numbers due to things like, say, a free weekend.

Obviously, this is only one platform among a handful, and it is precisely where Cyberpunk’s main fan base resides: after all, said base is from GOG, the very own PC showcase. by CD Projekt Red. Still, maybe 2022 will be a less quiet year for the developer: The free next-gen upgrades will give those who haven’t asked for a refund an excuse to take a second look, and everyone else. world might be drawn to the DLC if they play their cards right. Cyberpunk 2077 is for sale on Steam for 50% off ATMs, if all of that has sparked your interest. For my part, I will continue to wait.

Anyway, if you want to know more about what worked well on Steam in 2021, check out the full stream here. Fun fact: November saw the most all-new bestsellers.

Correction 4:33 PM: The order of appearance is random, but Cyberpunk still lists the more than 200k competitors.