The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was incredibly hyped. Fans couldn’t wait to dive into a new thrilling RPG from the creators of The Witcher franchise, CD Projekt Red. Marketing materials and interviews leading up to the game’s release only fueled the hype. Unfortunately, while CD Projekt Red forced the game into several delays, it was clear that the studio wasn’t ready to release this title even at launch. There were a ton of bugs and performance issues that made the gameplay experience well below fan expectations. That ultimately allowed players to refund the game digitally and even the game being tossed off digital marketplaces like the Sony PlayStation storefront.
Fortunately, the game is in a better spot today. But that was all due to developers working on the title well after its release. We’ve seen several patch updates make their way into the game just to get the gameplay experience to developer expectations. Unfortunately, that extra amount of development time cost the studio several areas that they likely intended to flesh out for the game. For example, we already know that we’re only receiving one expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 with Phantom Liberty. Likewise, it was unveiled quite a while ago at this point that the developers scrapped multiplayer plans entirely.
Recently, we found that the troublesome launch is the culprit behind the multiplayer cancellation. This news comes from Eurogamer, who recently toured the CD Projekt Red studio. Speaking with Philipp Weber, the senior quest designer, and coordinator on Cyberpunk 2077, the troublesome launch forced several R&D projects to get scrapped. Developers needed more hands to ensure that the base game reached a point that the studio could be satisfied with. As a result, multiplayer was one of those projects that got cut because of the game’s poor state at launch.
We know that the studio is working on a successor to Cyberpunk 2077, so perhaps that could flesh out the multiplayer component initially planned for the release of the original Cyberpunk 2077. Likewise, the studio recently unveiled that Cyberpunk 2077 will have a game of the year edition release. That will come packed with the base game along with the expansion. Although, it’s worth noting that while Cyberpunk 2077 is available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the expansion is a current-generation platform release only. Currently, we don’t have a release date attached to the Phantom Liberty expansion. But those of you who have yet to take a trip into Night City can pick up Cyberpunk 2077 right now on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S platforms.