CD Projekt RED aims to release next-gen upgrade for Cyberpunk 2077 by the end of 2021
CD Projekt RED plans to release the free next-gen upgrade for Cyberpunk 2077, which is intended for PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, by the end of this year. The company reports this during the presentation of its quarterly figures. The next-gen upgrade for The Witcher 3 should also be released at the end of this year.
The Polish game company reports in a PDF file for investors that the “target date” for the release of both next-gen upgrades is “end of 2021”, but does not yet mention concrete release dates. The company reported in January and March that the next-gen upgrades for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, respectively, would be released sometime in the second half of 2021, but hasn’t said much since.
The next-gen upgrade for Cyberpunk 2077 follows approximately a year after the game’s original release. The game was released on December 10, 2020 for PCs and consoles and was then criticized for bugs and performance issues. Since then, the developer has made several hotfixes and major updates.
Recently, the studio released patch 1.3, which among other things improved the minimap and added free cosmetic DLC to the game. The developer has released 10 updates to date, writing in the investor presentation that they “significantly improved the gameplay experience for all players.” The game also returned to PlayStation Store at the end of June. At the end of last year, the game was removed from that digital store due to performance issues and bugs.
The Witcher 3 was released in 2015 and has been well received by critics and fans of the franchise. CD Projekt RED previously announced that it would be introducing a free upgrade for the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S. That upgrade should, among other things, add visual upgrades and ray tracing to the game, and would include new content from the The Witcher series on Netflix. This free update will also be available to gamers who own the PC version of the game.
CD Projekt also states that it generated a total turnover of 104.6 million euros in the first half of this year. In the same period last year, turnover was still around 80.7 million euros. At the same time, the company’s net profit decreased from 32.6 million euros to 23.3 million euros. This is partly because the company’s costs increased in the first half of this year, compared to last year.
The company also says it is slowly but surely moving developers from the Cyberpunk 2077 game and its next-gen upgrade to other projects. The company also mentions the first expansion of Cyberpunk, but also “other projects”. The studio is not yet giving details about those projects.