Despite thegood sales results of Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the development of the expansion pack and post-launch support for the game cost CD Projekt too much and could become a real financial disaster for the studio, writes IGN.
On October 5, CD Projekt announced that the development of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty cost 275 million Polish zlotys (approximately $62.7 million) plus another 95 million zlotys (approximately $21.6 million) for the game's marketing. The post-launch support for Cyberpunk 2077 (presumably including Update 2.0) cost another 178 million Polish zlotys (about $40.9 million).
Since the release of Cyberpunk 2077, the studio has spent more than $125 million on one expansion pack and revision of the game... almost the budget of a full-fledged AAA game.
This is really a lot. The development of Cyberpunk 2077 itself is estimated at $316 million. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt cost $81 million in its time ($105 million now, taking into account inflation), which is only a little more than one DLC for Cyberpunk 2077.
In fact, since September 2020, the capitalization of CD Projekt has fallen more than 4 times. The company, which was once worth $11.44 billion, is now worth only $2.44 billion.
Why is this bad for players? It is a clear example of the fact that it is not profitable for developers to refine a failed game and fix bugs; it is easier to leave everything as it is and move on. Unfortunately, after such disappointing results, this may become the norm for large studios.