After 35 million copies, has *Cyberpunk 2077* really made a comeback?

As a player of my generation, I always have mixed feelings about games that “fight their way back out of a storm of criticism.” Back in the day, watching Chinese wuxia games rise and fall, I saw too many half-finished products, too many last-minute patch jobs, too many reputation turnarounds. So when I look at Cyberpunk 2077 again, that feeling is strangely familiar—just like a character in the jianghu who first falls to rock bottom, then returns after bitter training.

Last night, CDPR updated the sales figures for Cyberpunk 2077 during its latest earnings call: as of November 26, 2025, the game’s cumulative sales had surpassed 35 million copies; as of May 28, 2025, the DLC Phantom Liberty had sold over 10 million copies. Coming back to the game itself, these two numbers are undeniably solid. In the single-player market, they’re already the kind of achievements that deserve a place on the résumé.

But looking at it calmly, these figures are not exactly a “fresh off the press” breaking update. The article itself makes it clear that CDPR hasn’t updated this set of numbers in quite a while, and had already mentioned the same figures at least in its previous earnings report. In other words, 35 million and 10 million are more like a public reaffirmation than evidence of a sudden new surge in sales.

There’s another detail worth noting: don’t let the headline numbers mislead you. The official statement mentions that these sales include not only separately sold copies of the base game and DLC, but also units counted from the “Ultimate Edition” bundle. That accounting method isn’t unreasonable, but it’s something to keep in mind when reading the figures—don’t take them as the simplest, most strictly separated sales totals.

Beyond sentimentality, what I think is most worth discussing about Cyberpunk 2077 is not just how much it sold, but what it proved: even a AAA title that stumbles badly at launch can still win back its reputation step by step, as long as the follow-up updates, content completion, and DLC quality all keep pace. That point alone carries real reference value for many studios today that are still learning how to handle long-term live operations. Done right, it’s an inspiring comeback story; done wrong, it only encourages the toxic habit of “sell first, fix later,” and that’s what really chills the heart.

From a player’s perspective, if you still haven’t picked it up by now, this kind of “base game + expansion” complete experience is actually far more worth considering than it was at launch. The fact that Phantom Liberty crossed 10 million sales is proof that many players see it not as a perfunctory add-on, but as something that truly pushed Night City another step forward.

At the end of the day, 35 million copies is of course a major victory, but it feels more like a medal awarded belatedly than a fresh call to charge. Cyberpunk 2077’s journey has had its falls, its remedial fixes, its controversies, and its comeback. Doesn’t that look a lot like the path we keep hoping Chinese single-player games can take? Could there be a little less disappointment, and a little more strength born from knowing shame? Looking at Night City’s achievement, I feel both envious and hopeful—that one day, the sword strike belonging to Chinese wuxia games can also thrust forward this steadily.