Description
Cyberpunk 2077
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| Developer(s) | CD Projekt Red |
| Publisher(s) | CD Projekt |
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| Series | Cyberpunk |
| Engine | REDengine 4 |
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| Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Based on Mike Pondsmith‘s Cyberpunk tabletop game series, the plot is set in the fictional metropolis of Night City, California, within the dystopian Cyberpunk universe. The player assumes the role of V (voiced by Gavin Drea or Cherami Leigh depending on the player’s choice of gender), a mercenary who gets reluctantly imbued with a cybernetic “bio-chip” containing an engram of legendary rockstar and terrorist Johnny Silverhand (voiced by Keanu Reeves). As Johnny’s consciousness begins overwriting V’s own, the two must work together to separate from each other and save V’s life.
The game’s development began following the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine (2016). The game was developed by a team of around 500 people using the REDengine 4 game engine. CD Projekt launched a new division in Wrocław, Poland, and partnered with Digital Scapes, Nvidia, Q-LOC, and Jali Research to aid the production, while Pondsmith served as a consultant. The original score was composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz, and featured the contributions of several licensed artists. After years of anticipation, Cyberpunk 2077 was released for PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, and Xbox One in December 2020, followed by the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in February 2022, the Nintendo Switch 2 in June 2025 as a launch title, and macOS in July 2025. A DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in September 2023.
Cyberpunk 2077 received praise from critics for its narrative, setting, and graphics. However, some of its gameplay elements received mixed responses while its themes and representation of transgender characters received some criticism. It was also widely criticised for bugs and glitches, particularly on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions. Sony removed it from the PlayStation Store from December 2020 to June 2021 while CD Projekt rectified some of the issues. CD Projekt became subject to investigations and class-action lawsuits for their perceived attempts at downplaying the severity of the technical problems before release; these were ultimately cleared with a settlement of US$1.85 million. By November 2024, the game had sold over 30 million units, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. Its total cost to develop and market (including updates and DLC) is reportedly between $436 million and $441 million, making it one of the most expensive video games to develop. A sequel, Cyberpunk 2, was announced in October 2022 and is in development.
Gameplay
Cyberpunk 2077 is an action role-playing game played from a first-person perspective as V,[1][2] a mercenary whose voice,[3] face, hairstyle, body type and modifications, background, and clothing are customisable. There are also five attributes (Body, Intelligence, Reflexes, Technical Ability, and Cool) that can be customised to suit the player’s gameplay style, with a sixth attribute — Relic — being introduced in the Phantom Liberty expansion.
The gameplay is flexible: the two primary play styles are Netrunner (hacking) and Solo (combat). V has a number of manoeuvres to reposition in combat, including sprinting, taking cover, double-jumping, and sliding;[4][5] many of these abilities can be unlocked or upgraded through cyberware implants installed by a “ripperdoc”.[6][7] Weapon use increases accuracy and reloading speed, which are reflected in character animations.[8][9] Equipment, such as weapons and armour, is governed by a coloured tier system,[10] and is split into melee and ranged options. Melee strikes can be dealt with close-combat weapons.[11][12] There are three types of ranged weapons, all of which can be customised and modified—Power (with ricocheting bullets), Tech (which penetrates walls and enemies), and Smart (with homing bullets, only usable with specific cyberware).[13][14] The game has four types of damage that can be inflicted and resisted—Physical, Thermal, Electric, and Toxic.[15][16][17] The game can be completed without killing anyone (not including robots),[18] with non-lethal options for weapons and cyberware.[19]
The open world metropolis of Night City consists of seven regions: the corporate City Centre, immigrant-inhabited Watson, luxurious Westbrook, inner-city Heywood, gang-infested Pacifica, the industrial suburbs of Santo Domingo, and the breakaway Dogtown in the Phantom Liberty expansion. Its surrounding area, the Badlands, can also be explored.[20] Cyberpunk 2077 enables players to control their character from a first-person perspective. By default, a third-person perspective is only available while driving or during specific, rare moments in the story.[21][22] V owns an apartment and has access to a garage, and can purchase four additional apartments throughout the city.[11] There is a full day-night cycle and dynamic weather, which affects the way non-player characters (NPCs) behave.[13][23] Depending on the location, law enforcement may be alerted if V commits a crime.[24] Pedestrians are vulnerable to vehicular collisions and gunfire.[14][25] Radio stations are available to listen to.[26][27] Night City features many non-English-speaking characters, whose languages can be translated with special implants.[28] V also periodically uses a “Braindance”; a technology that allows one to undergo other people’s experiences.[29][30]
Branching dialogues enable interaction with NPCs and actions in quests,[31] and the player’s in-game choices can lead to different endings.[32] Experience points are obtained from main quests and used to upgrade stats; side quests yield “street cred”, unlocking skills, vendors, places, and additional quests.[10][13][14][33] Quests are assigned by characters known as Fixers, shady underworld middlemen who specialise in information brokering and smuggling.[34] Throughout the game, V is aided by various companions.[11] Consumables, such as food, drinks, and drugs, are used for healing and temporary enhancements, and objects can be inspected in V’s inventory.[5] Minigames include hacking, boxing, auto racing,[35] martial arts, and shooting ranges.[36]
Synopsis
Characters and setting
Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in Night City (NC), an American megacity in the Free State of North California which functions as a corporatocracy unaffected by federal or state legislation; this place has over three decades of tumultuous history leading up to the year 2077.[37] The city suffers from rampant gang violence,[38] and corporate warfare,[39] exacerbated by an ineffectual and corrupt municipal government[40] and police force.[41] Night City relies on robotic technology for everyday functions such as waste management, building and infrastructure maintenance, and public transportation.[42] The city’s architecture and fashions are derived from the four aesthetics eras it underwent— Entropism, Kitsch, Neo-Militarism, and Neo-Kitsch.[43] Homelessness and poverty are widespread in the city but does not preclude cybernetic modification for Night City’s underclasses, leading to both cosmetic addiction and high levels of violence. Those whose addictions and heavy modifications have rendered them mentally unstable, known as cyberpsychos, are dealt with by the police tactical unit MaxTac.[44][45] Privatized health corporations such as Trauma Team utilise paramilitary doctors for rapid medical services.[46] Due to the constant threat of physical harm, open carry is permitted for all residents of Night City.[47]
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The primary protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077 is Vincent / Valerie, known as V (Gavin Drea or Cherami Leigh),[48] a freelance mercenary whose background changes based on player choice.[49] V is accompanied by Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves),[50] a legendary rock star and terrorist who now exists as a digitised engram; Johnny is also playable during some segments of the game. Throughout the main story, V and Johnny come into contact with several major allies and enemies, including Jackie Welles (Jason Hightower), V’s best friend and fellow mercenary; T-Bug (Cynthia McWilliams), a netrunner who provides support to V and Jackie; Viktor “Vik” Vector (Michael Gregory), a ripperdoc who maintains a close friendship with V; Misty Olzewski (Erica Lindbeck), Jackie’s girlfriend who runs an esoterica; Dexter “Dex” DeShawn (Michael-Leon Wooley), a local fixer in Night City; Evelyn Parker (Kari Wahlgren), a prostitute who partners with Dex and V’s crew to organise a heist; Judy Álvarez (Carla Tassara), Evelyn’s friend and a braindance editor who helps V in their investigations; Saburo Arasaka (Masane Tsukayama), the founder of the Arasaka Corporation; Yorinobu Arasaka (Hideo Kimura), Saburo’s youngest son; Hanako Arasaka (Alpha Takahashi), Yorinobu’s sister and Saburo’s only daughter; Goro Takemura (Rome Kanda), Saburo’s personal bodyguard; Rogue Amendiares (Jane Perry), the owner of the Afterlife nightclub and one of Johnny’s former partners; Panam Palmer (Emily Woo Zeller), a nomad from the Aldecaldos clan; Saul Bright (Diarmaid Murtagh), the leader of the Aldecaldos; Alt Cunningham (Alix Wilton Regan), a netrunner and Johnny’s ex-girlfriend who became an artificial intelligence construct; and Adam Smasher (Alec Newman), a ruthless cyborg who works as Arasaka’s head of security.[51]
Plot
The game opens with one of three lifepaths for the player character V—Nomad, Streetkid, or Corpo—each leading to a partnership with street thug Jackie Welles and netrunner T-Bug as mercenaries in Night City.
In 2077, fixer Dex DeShawn hires V and Jackie to steal a biochip called “the Relic” from the Arasaka Corporation. The job collapses when they witness Yorinobu Arasaka murdering his father, Saburo, and framing it as poisoning. During their escape, T-Bug is killed, Jackie is mortally wounded, and the Relic’s case is damaged, forcing V to slot the chip. Dex, angered by the fallout, shoots V and leaves them for dead.
V awakens in a landfill, haunted by the digital ghost of rocker-turned-terrorist Johnny Silverhand, who carried out a 2023 attack on Arasaka Tower with Rogue Amendiares (currently a Fixer) and other mercenaries. Johnny perished in the attack with V seeing his memories of the event. Rescued by Saburo’s loyal bodyguard, Goro Takemura, who suspects the truth and wishes to use V to prove the truth behind Yorinobu’s assassination of Saburo. Ripperdoc Viktor Vector reveals the biochip’s resurrection nanotech is overwriting V’s mind with Johnny’s engram, leaving only weeks to find a cure. Johnny, initially antagonistic, resolves to help V while also utilizing the opportunity to try and take down Arasaka again.
Teaming with Takemura, V pursues two leads: capturing Arasaka scientist Anders Hellman with the help of nomad Panam Palmer and the Aldecaldos clan, and rescuing Evelyn Parker, who commissioned the heist. Hellman is caught but is unable to help V, and later given up to Takemura. With aid from Evelyn’s friend Judy Álvarez, V learns Evelyn hacked and sold to “Scavs”, a group known for kidnapping and harvesting cybernetics from people. Evelyn was abused by her kidnappers and later dies by suicide. Using Evelyn’s braindance memories, V discovers she learned of the Relic from the Voodoo Boys; a gang of very private netrunners, who wanted Johnny’s engram to reach beyond the Blackwall; a firewall that protects the internet and world from rogue AIs.
Through them, V relives Johnny’s past. In 2013, Johnny’s girlfriend Alt Cunningham created Soulkiller, an AI that transfers minds into cyberspace but destroys the brain. Arasaka used Soulkiller on Alt, imprisoning her in their digital fortress, Mikoshi. Johnny’s later nuclear attack freed her, allowing her to escape past into the Blackwall, to become an AI, but ended with his own capture and upload via Soulkiller. Arasaka’s “Secure Your Soul” program and the Relic stem from this technology. V communicates with Alt’s consciousness beyond the Blackwall and strikes a deal: if V grants her access to Arasaka’s subnet and Mikoshi, she can separate V and Johnny.
Separately, Takemura has resolved to take his information to the Arasaka executives and to this end, V and him capture Hanako Arasaka, Yorinobu’s sister, to prove his guilt, but V is forced to flee after Arasaka soldiers attack. Following the ambush, Hanako reaches out to V and offers to help them in exchange for their assistance in ousting Yorinobu, which Johnny greatly opposes.
In the final act, V must chose to either assault Arasaka Tower or accept Hanako’s offer. The attack can be carried out solo, with Rogue(as Johnny in control), or with the Aldecaldos, while all paths end in defeating Adam Smasher. Alternatively, siding with Hanako successfully ousts Yorinobu and sees Arasaka remove and destroy the Relic. Regardless, due to the engram’s prolonged presence in V’s body, the biochip’s effects are irreversible. The results leave V with a shorter lifespan in their own body but could offer Johnny a full life, as the Relic has tailored the body for him. Depending on the player’s choice, V either uploads their own engram to Mikoshi awaiting a new body, lives on in their current body with a shortened lifespan while seeking paths to undo the damage (within Night City or beyond), or permanently surrenders their body (while leaving beyond the Blackwall with Alt) to Johnny— who, in this ending, leaves Night City to start anew.
Development
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Preliminary work on Cyberpunk 2077 began following the release of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition (2012). CD Projekt Red—CD Projekt’s internal development studio—approached Mike Pondsmith, the writer of Cyberpunk and founder of R. Talsorian Games, in early 2012, sending him a copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011). Impressed with the studio’s unparalleled knowledge of the Cyberpunk universe at the time, Pondsmith and CD Projekt Red reached an agreement to license Cyberpunk‘s story from the year 2077 onward to CD Projekt Red, while Pondsmith retained the rights for media in the Cyberpunk universe set up until the year 2077. To ensure Cyberpunk‘s story remained cohesive during development, Pondsmith served as a consultant on Cyberpunk 2077. Pondsmith’s experience at Microsoft developing games such as Crimson Skies (2000) and Blood Wake (2001), and at Monolith Productions developing The Matrix Online (2005), provided valuable wisdom to CD Projekt Red, in comparison to Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski‘s indifference towards the studio during the development of The Witcher (2007) and The Witcher 2.[52]
Concept
The concept of Cyberpunk 2077 was adapted from Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk series. Antithetical to the stereotypical cyberpunk genre, the concepts explored in Cyberpunk evoke a sense of rebellion and whimsy while retaining the genre’s grim tone. The protagonist of Cyberpunk—in comparison to the typical archetype of a hero attempting to save the world—attempts to save themself from a downtrodden and lowly perspective.[52] Lead gameplay designer Marcin Janiszewski sought to remind players of its connection to the Cyberpunk universe, writing, “We want to assure fans of the pen-and-paper game that this is still the same Cyberpunk you know”. In comparison to CD Projekt Red’s development on The Witcher series, the time difference between the events of Cyberpunk and Cyberpunk 2077 allotted the studio more freedom towards adapting the series, although they attempted to stay true to Pondsmith’s original works.[53]
Cyberpunk 2077, by extension, presents an alternate history, in which the United States became mired in wars in Central America in the 1980s deeply undermining its power and economy, the Soviet Union failed to dissolve and Japan became a superpower, diffusing its culture as far as California. The events of Cyberpunk 2077 take place in the fictitious Night City, a megalopolis immersed in Japanese culture that lies between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Stereotypical cyberpunk motifs, such as sadism, commercialisation, cruelty, and satisfaction, remain as mainstays in the political landscape of Night City.[49] A hedonistic wonderland, Night City is divided into two distinct classes: the downtrodden, who use psychedelic substances and physically augmented sex workers as a form of escapism, while the elite corporate class (known as “corpos”) dominate society and are afforded great financial success.[54]
The script was first written in Polish and translated into English, a standard practice for CD Projekt Red’s games, according to quest director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz.[55]
Game design
CD Projekt Red used a first-person perspective to immerse the player further in the world and home in on the megacorporation motif.[13] To seamlessly blend cutscenes with gameplay, CD Projekt Red decided to frame cutscenes in first-person, including the sex scenes, with limited exceptions. Players can, however, drive in third-person, and the player’s character is visible in areas such as mirrors and security cameras.[56] The decision by game director Adam Badowski to include nudity was tactfully planned, with Badowski stating, “Nudity is important for us because of one reason. This is cyberpunk, so people augment their body. So the body is no longer [sacred]; it’s [profane]”, expanding upon transhumanist beliefs.[57]
The quest team took several changes in comparison to the quest system in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015). Game logic was implemented to allow for players to undertake quests in seemingly random orders while remaining coherent, while doubling down on The Witcher 3‘ philosophy of a “quest twist”.[58] To reuse the stories written during the game’s development, unused parts from the main story were turned into side quests.[59]
Technology
Cyberpunk 2077 was developed using REDengine 4, the fourth iteration of CD Projekt Red’s internal game engine.[60] REDengine 3, REDengine 4’s predecessor, implemented improvements to terrain and vegetation rendering. To achieve this, regions are streamed from a clipped mipmap (through a method known as clipmapping) in memory. Six clipmaps are created in total; the elevation, control map, and colour clipmaps are streamed, while the vertical error, normal, and terrain shadow clipmaps are generated at runtime. In addition, a technique known as tessellation is used, where polygons are divided. In particular, polygon triangulation is used, where data is tessellated into triangles. The error maps are downsampled prior to hardware tessellation. This avoids costly computation, as large areas with high levels of tessellation aren’t rendered. Furthermore, REDengine3 employs a radical approach to texturing; textures are painted using two textures: a background texture and an overlay texture. For slopes, the slope angle is computed and compared against a threshold value. Creating a thick cover on slopes was made possible through boosting the overlay texture when the vertex normal looked up; however, this presented complications in ground features, such as cobblestones, where improper distribution was applied. To address this, damping was added, along with blend sharpening. These measures created an ultimately low memory footprint.[61] Other advancements made by REDengine 3 include refined animations, volumetric effects allowing for advanced rendering of particle effects, such as clouds, dynamic physics, and an advanced dialogue mimic system. These improvements allowed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to have a more immersive open-world.[62]
Although Cyberpunk 2077 was initially developed using REDengine 3 as far back as 2013,[63] CD Projekt Red developed REDengine 4 after facing difficulty developing the game, which used a first-person perspective, a departure from the third-person perspective CD Projekt had developed in for earlier iterations of REDengine. REDengine 4 was developed using a US$7 million grant from the Polish government.[62] Nearly every aspect of REDengine was changed as a result, including the particle effects editor.[64] In a report from CD Projekt Red, it was revealed that the company continued to work on REDengine throughout Cyberpunk 2077‘s development cycle, as late as 2017.[65] Cyberpunk 2077 is the final game to use REDengine, as future games from CD Projekt Red will instead be developed using Unreal Engine 5.[60]
REDengine 4 implemented various lighting adjustments to create a more realistic world, including hardware-accelerated real-time ray tracing through DirectX, global illumination, diffuse illumination, and ambient occlusion. These features are not present on the console versions of the game. Other features include physically based rendering—an improvement over REDengine 3, screen space reflections, and pin sharp reflections, although the player’s character is omitted from the bounding volume hierarchy structure generated ray-traced reflections. The player’s character does appear, however, in render to texture objects, such as mirrors. Improvements to shadows include cascaded shadow maps, screen space shadows, and ray-traced shadows with contact hardening, while improvements to character rendering include subsurface scattering and realistic skin shading. These features introduced computational complexity, testing older consoles, such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[66] Cyberpunk 2077 uses vertical asset streaming, or culling, a rendering technique that omits objects below and above the player’s field of view. This technique saves memory.[67]
During the development of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red partnered with several companies. These companies include Vancouver-based studio Digital Scapes to create additional tools,[68] multinational technology company Nvidia to implement real-time ray tracing,[69] and developer QLOC for quality assurance.[70] In addition, artificial intelligence company Jali Research helped CD Projekt Red implement lip syncing for all ten localisations through procedural generation.[71]
Art
When designing Night City, the art design team at CD Projekt Red took multiple sources of inspiration. German industrial designer Dieter Rams and American neo-futurist concept artist Syd Mead inspired the team, who used Rams’ elegance to juxtapose the low-class neighbourhoods in Night City and Mead’s vibrant colours and materialism to create the demeanor of Night City, in what the team called “kitsch“. Building these environments took the team eight years.[72] To create a cyberpunk look for Night City, the team incorporated retro and futuristic elements. To accomplish this, the team looked at dilapidated or old-fashioned buildings—aspects of a familiar reality—with futurism. “For example, you could have a run down building with an old wooden door, but an LED light might be attached to that door, which could be a part of a high-tech security system,” Hiroshi Sakakibara, Environment City Coordinator at CD Projekt Red, said during a Cyberpunk 2077 livestream at Tokyo Game Show 2020. A key source of inspiration for the team was Blade Runner (1982), which Sakakibara referred to as the “Bible of all cyberpunk”.[73] Other sources of inspiration for the team include the manga and anime series Ghost in the Shell, and other video games such as System Shock (1994) and the first part of Deus Ex (2000).[74] To design the buildings in Night City, the team consulted with urban planners and drew upon the themes of Brutalist architecture.[75][73] The game’s yellow-themed design is an attempt to distinguish Cyberpunk from existing icons in its genre.[76] The designs of Marcello Gandini helped shape the appearance of many of the cars in the game.[77] A motorbike akin to the one in the Akira manga and anime film appears in the game, as well as a car inspired by Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).[78][79]
To develop the world building in Night City, the team used four distinct visual styles—austere Entropism, colourful Kitsch, imposing Neomilitarism, and opulent Neokitsch—to explain what happened to the world prior to the events of the game. Bulky cars and unappealing buildings represent Entropism, an architectural style that came about through necessity. In Entropism, practicality is valued more than aesthetics. As the economy recovered, the vibrant style of Kitsch gained traction. The style of Kitsch was countered with Neomilitarism, an ascetic movement where the rise of corporations undid many of the stylistic decisions made in Entropism. Finally, Neokitsch incorporated the classist systems in Neomilitarism with the vibrance of Kitsch. In Neokitsch, the rich use scarce materials, such as wood and marble, to construct their buildings, and wear clothes from animals.[80] Night City features six districts, each with a unique gusto. Pacifica, for instance, was a prosperous vacation destination until an economic crisis hit, leaving the Haitian community to form a civilisation around the buildings.[43]
The team used the digital compositing software Nuke to design Night City. A challenge for the team was creating a global illumination system that would cast a variety of light sources on narrow streets. Nuke was used to analytically reference the lighting in REDengine with Nuke. In contrast to most other video games, which use tone-mapping, Cyberpunk 2077 uses a classic film LUT. In addition, Nuke was used to design the game’s user interface and splash screen.[81]
Voice work
V is voiced by Gavin Drea and Cherami Leigh for the male and female versions of V, respectively.[48] CD Projekt Red sought a suitable voice actor for the role of Johnny Silverhand. Keanu Reeves was approached in July 2018 for the role. His performance was recorded using motion capture technology, a process he had previously used for his performance as Neo in The Matrix (1999). Although a newcomer to the video game format, Reeves enjoyed the script.[82] Silverhand is featured prominently in the game, with CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiński recalling in an interview that Silverhand’s dialogue count is second only to V.[50] The localisation of Cyberpunk 2077 involved nearly half of the 5,381 people working on the game, including 1,966 actors dedicated solely to voicing the characters.[83]
Music
Multiple licensed musical artists contributed to Cyberpunk 2077‘s fictional radio stations and soundtrack albums, including Run the Jewels, Rosa Walton, Grimes, Refused, ASAP Rocky, Gazelle Twin, Yugen Blakrok, and Ilan Rubin.[84][27]
Hip hop duo Run the Jewels wrote “No Save Point” for the game’s soundtrack—a track that vividly critiques the socioeconomic state of Night City.[85] The song is featured in the game and performed by El-P and Killer Mike as “Yankee and the Brave”,[86][87] a reference to a song on the duo’s fourth studio album, RTJ4.[88] Walton’s “I Really Want to Stay at Your House” would later go viral in 2022 after being prominently utilised in the anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners,[89][90][91][92] and topped Billboard‘s Top TV Songs in the United States.[93]
Marketing and release
Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in May 2012.[94] Trailers for the game were released in January 2013,[95] at E3 2018,[96] and at E3 2019.[97] The game was initially confirmed for Windows,[98] with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One announced at E3 2018.[96] Stadia was announced in August 2019.[99]
At E3 2019, an initial release date of 16 April 2020 was announced.[97] This was delayed to 17 September,[100] then 19 November,[101] and finally 10 December.[102] The developers received death threats over the last delay.[103] The final delay was decided suddenly, with discussions commencing a day before the initial announcement. Due to Polish law, CD Projekt was not allowed to inform every member of the development team due to its large size; around ninety per cent were not informed until the last minute.[104] Rockfish Game’s Everspace 2‘s early access release and an expansion to Grinding Gear Games‘s Path of Exile, scheduled to be released in December 2020, were delayed until the following month in order to avoid competing with Cyberpunk 2077‘s release.[105][106]
Funko Pops were obtainable starting 16 April 2020.[107] CD Projekt Red held a cosplay competition in June 2019.[108] McFarlane Toys signed a three-year agreement to manufacture action figures.[109] The Cyberpunk 2077-themed Xbox One X, which includes a digital copy and downloadable content,[110] became the final limited edition of that console.[111] Designed with the same aesthetic were video cards,[112] gaming chairs,[113] energy drinks,[114] sneakers,[115] smartphones exclusive to China,[116] and peripherals.[117][118] From May 2020, advertising company Agora Group had newspapers, online services, and radio channels doing promotion in Poland. Their subsidiaries carried out publicity outdoors and in cinemas, using established brands to disseminate information about the game.[119]
With E3 2020 cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, CD Projekt’s online event Night City Wire showed additional trailers, more gameplay,[120][121][122] and making-of footage.[123] Next-generation ports for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 were initially scheduled for release in 2021,[124] but were delayed in October 2021,[125] before eventually releasing on 15 February 2022.[126][127][128] Owners of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions were able to freely download the game on their respective next-generation models.[129][130] The delayed standalone multiplayer was announced to launch after 2021.[131][132] The base game, along with the Phantom Liberty expansion, will be released for macOS on 17 July 2025.[133]
As with The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3, both Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment,[134] and Bandai Namco Entertainment served as physical distributors in North America and Central Europe,[135] Australia, and New Zealand respectively.[136] Spike Chunsoft published the physical PlayStation 4 copies in Japan.[137]
The versions of Cyberpunk 2077 released in Japan were subject to a reduction in the amount of nudity and gore portrayed in order to meet rating agency requirements and censorship laws.[138][139] The day after its release, the game was condemned by some Chinese netizens because the Cyberpunk Wiki, a user-generated online encyclopaedia about the game, described Taiwan as “not really a country and not actually part of China”.[140] A datamine of the game’s source code by hackers in February 2021 revealed that content flagged for censorship in China was tagged under “Winnie the Pooh“,[141][142] a reference to an internet meme in which Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping was compared to the character.[143][144]
CD Projekt publicly supported Ukraine following the Russian invasion of the country in February 2022 by suspending all sales of Cyberpunk 2077 in Russia and Belarus,[145][146] and donating a million Polish złoty to a humanitarian charity operating in Ukraine.[147]
Retail editions
A “Collector’s Edition” consisting of a custom box, steelbook case, figurine depicting a male V, hardcover artbook, metal pin set and keychain, A Visitor’s Guide to Night City, embroidered patches, world compendium, Night City postcards and map, and stickers was released along with the game. The standard edition also contains the compendium, postcards, map, and stickers.[148] Digital items that come with every copy are the soundtrack, art booklet, Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook, wallpapers, and Cyberpunk 2077: Your Voice comic.[149] Purchases through CD Projekt’s subsidiary GOG.com include the digital comic Cyberpunk 2077: Big City Dreams.[150]
A physical release of the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, which includes Phantom Liberty, was announced on 21 November 2023.[151] Players on PC could purchase this version digitally, and PlayStation 5 releases come with a digital code instead of a disc.[152] This release, titled the “Ultimate Edition”, was released on 5 December 2023.[153] The Ultimate Edition was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 as a launch title on 5 June 2025.[154] This version received notable media attention for being one of the only third-party games on the system at launch to not be released on a Game-Key Card, instead featuring the complete game on a 64GB cartridge.[155][156]
DLC and update
Prior to the announcement of the game’s only planned expansion, Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red had released 18 different DLCs for the game as of February 2021.[157] One of the DLCs released included content from the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime.[158][159] The expansion, which stars Idris Elba, was released in September 2023.[160]
Update 2.0, released just days before the Phantom Liberty expansion, brought a series of major changes that overhauled the core elements of the RPG,[161] and was met with positive reviews.[162][163] Nearly three years after the game’s release, many minor bugs have been fixed.[164] “Update 2.0 has given Cyberpunk 2077 a pulse that didn’t exist before,” Polygon reported.[165] The patch also added a Ukrainian language option, but the translation contained anti-Russian statements specifically referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[166] CD Projekt apologised, stating that it was unaware these comments had been included.[167] The translations were provided by an external agency hired for localisation,[168] and the company said they would be replaced in the next update.[169] Following the 2.0 update, Cyberpunk 2077 became the first game to feature AI-powered ray tracing with Nvidia DLSS 3.5.[170][171]
Along with the release of the “Ultimate Edition” on 5 December 2023, CD Projekt released Update 2.1, which they characterised as “the last major update”,[172] which introduces a functioning Metro system, additional scenes with V’s romantic interest, and other quality improvements.[173] As of February 2024, only 17 developers remained working on Cyberpunk 2077. Three months later, none were left.[174] However, at the end of 2024, CD Projekt unexpectedly released update 2.2, which included a feature where Johnny Silverhand would sit in the passenger seat while V was driving, occasionally commenting or reacting to the surrounding events.[175] Patch 2.21 adds support for Nvidia DLSS 4, along with other changes, making Cyberpunk 2077 the first game to utilise DLSS 4’s new multi-frame generation technology.[176][177]
