CD Projekt Red revealed a new “Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty” DLC game trailer at the Game Awards featuring Idris Elba.
This second trailer shows the return of V and Johnny Silverhand, voiced by Keanu Reeves, and introduces a mysterious FIA agent voiced by Elba. Solomon Reed, the FIA agent, teams up with V and Johnny Silverhand for a survival and espionage-themed mission in a previously unseen game area known as “Dogtown.”
“Cyberpunk 2077” had one of the most disastrous launches in video game history. Everything from mismanagement to discrimination to punishing game crunches and even repeated delays had a play in the disaster. The irony is that the launch was successful in the first 10 days, CD Projekt Red had sold more than 13 million copies and it was, briefly, the most valuable Polish company. Until news of catastrophic bugs revealed that the game was either unplayable or nonoptimal, depending on the player’s console, and the company’s stock crashed.
Months of updates and bug fixes slowly restored the game’s reputation and Netflix‘s “Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners” anime saw the player count jump by 300% and even reach 90% positive reviews on Steam.
This renewed interest has led to the previously scrapped post-launch plans, which included a multiplayer mode, to be carefully put back on the schedule. The DLC, titled “Phantom Liberty,” was originally set for release closely after the launch. Now it’s scheduled for a 2023 release. A sequel has also been put back into the schedule, titled “Project Orion” by the studio. While it’s on track again, the sequel might not be in pre-production until 2024 and the earliest players would get the game could be 2025 or 2026.
While the DLC has been announced and there will eventually be a complete edition released, CD Projekt Red isn’t leaning toward titling it a Game of the Year edition. The branding and styling of the package may be similar to the studio’s “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” Game of the Year edition, but nothing has been confirmed.
“I don’t want to announce editions. I’ve said it because it is the natural way of things,” said CD Projekt Red president and joint-CEO Adam Kiciński during an investors conference, as reported by Polish outlet Stockwatch and Insider Gaming. “We did the same with The Witcher 3, which – after two expansions – was finally published as a Game of the Year Edition, and has been distributed in this form ever since. So – we should expect the same here; it’s a fairly natural direction for us to take.”
The “Cyberpunk 2077” is slated for 2023 and will come to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.