CD Projekt says Switch 2 Cyberpunk 2077 sales are mostly physical

CD Projekt Red reported this week that more than three quarters of Cyberpunk 2077 sales for Nintendo’s new Switch 2 console in June were physical cartridges, a result the developer said vindicated its decision to ship the full game on a cartridge rather than a gamekey card. The announcement came as the studio also issued a cryptic in-universe social media message dated September 4 that has sent fans into a flurry of speculation about new content or marketing tied to the franchise.

In a slide accompanying the company’s latest financial presentation, CD Projekt said physical copies accounted for 75.4 percent of Cyberpunk 2077’s Switch 2 “sell-in” for June, with digital representing 24.6 percent. Sell-in refers to units shipped to retailers and warehouses and includes copies not yet purchased by consumers. CD Projekt executives had previously called offering a cartridge with the full game “the right thing to do,” a move that appears to have resonated with early adopters of the new hardware.

Industry observers note the result is notable in a market increasingly shifting toward digital. One recent industry report found only about 25 percent of new games in Europe were sold physically...