Well, it appears that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime is helping Cyberpunk 2077 more than we had previously thought. It’s not just in concurrent player numbers. People are actively buying copies of the game now, and by the truckloads (whether physical or digital). How else do you explain the game reaching 20 million sales just weeks after the release of the anime?
Anime Cyberpunks For the Win!
The official Twitter account for Cyberpunk 2077 recently posted a message announcing that had reached over 20 million sales at long last. The announcement even comes with a “Thank You” message to all the cyberpunks roaming the streets of Night City. You can read the full text of the message below:
“Over 20 million cyberpunks have been roaming the streets of Night City – partying with Jackie and getting to know Johnny, driving around with Panam and diving with Judy, hanging out with River and listening to Kerry’s songs.
Thank you and we hope to see you all in the Afterlife!”
So why this sales milestone for Cyberpunk 2077? Well, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners did launch a short while ago on September 13, 2022. This anime spinoff of the game by Studio Trigger (Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, Star Wars: Visions Ep. 3 “The Twins” and Ep. 7 “The Elder”) has taken the media world by storm, receiving universally positive acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Thus, it’s little surprise that the anime would drum up so much hype for the game it’s based on.
Heck, according to IGN‘s figures: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners basically sold 2 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077 between the anime’s release and September 28, 2022. While IGN does give some credit to the recent announcement of the Phantom Liberty expansion/update for the base game, it’s pretty clear that the anime is responsible to most (if not all) of this renewed hype. If you’re curious about this anime now, then you can watch it only on Netflix. You know, because it’s a Netflix exclusive like most of its titles, which means you’ll have to shell out cash for a Netflix subscription. If you have any interest in anime, Studio Trigger, or CD Projekt Red though; then it might be worth it.
Cyberpunk 2077 Sales Milestone: Opinion
This may be a bit of hypocrisy from me coming from what I just said, but 20 million sales, while certainly impressive for a single game, isn’t breaking any records. At that figure, Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t even break into the top 50 best-selling games list. At 50th place on that list, Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald beats it at 22.54 million copies sold even though it launched for the Game Boy Advance back on November 21, 2002. However, even that number pales in comparison to the number 1 best-selling game on the list: Minecraft. At 238 million copies sold on multiple platforms since its release on November 18, 2011; CD Projekt Red can’t hope to compete with it.
Still though, I should point out that Cyberpunk 2077 has actually exceeded 20 million copies sold by the time of this writing. We currently don’t know the exact figures, but if this trend continues, the game might very well topple Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald from its place. Tune back in to THS later to find out if this is indeed the case.
