Sorry, WoW Shadowlands: Cyberpunk 2077 is actually the fastest-selling PC game

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By John Loeffler
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CD Projekt Red's takes the crown by a very healthy margin

Cyberpunk 2077
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Glitches and all, CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is now the biggest PC game launch in history after racking up an estimated 4.72 million PC pre-orders in advance of the game's December 10 launch date – a number set to rise even higher once day-of purchases are added in. CD Project Red revealed the new pre-order figures on Twitter on Thursday.

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The achievement comes just days after Activision announced that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, the popular MMO's eighth expansion, had taken the crown of fastest-selling PC game with 3.7 million sales and pre-orders by its November 23 launch date. 

Cyberpunk 2077

(Image credit: CD Project Red)

In total, CDPR revealed that it has sold 8 million total preorders, 59% of which were on PC through distribution channels like Steam. In addition, CDPR also indicated that it had crossed the $50 million revenue threshold on Steam a couple of weeks ago to earn the 80% royalties on each pre-order.

Cyberpunk 2077 is finally here, after years of hype

Needless to say, the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 is going to go down as one of the most successful in game history, at least financially. At $59 / £49 / AU$89, Cyberpunk 2077 almost certainly cleared $200 million on PC sales alone (and that's just at the standard edition price), and with an estimated budget of $314 million, it's very likely to have recouped its cost on launch day, though CDPR has yet to release any specific figures.

First announced back in 2012, Cyberpunk 2077 has been a long time coming and now that it's finally here, it's possible that no game could have lived up to years of hype, even assuming everything went off without a hitch. 

The release has been somewhat marred by bugs and complaints of poor performance on PS4 and Xbox One versions, and there has been long-standing complaints about transphobia in the game and from CDPR itself, but that hasn't seemed to put a dent in the game's momentum going into its release.    

John Loeffler
John Loeffler
Components Editor

John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY. 


Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.


You can find him online on Threads @johnloeffler.


Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 (just like everyone else).