Cyberpunk 2077 has hit its highest concurrent player count on Steam, since January 2021. As per the unaffiliated database SteamDB, CD Projekt Red’s latest made a comeback with 85,000+ active users on the platform, as of Monday. At launch — December 2020 — the game had over a million concurrent players, which soon fell off, thanks to numerous complaints regarding glitches and optimisation issues. The sudden surge in popularity could be attributed to the critical reception the new Netflix anime Cyberpunk Edgerunners received.
In collaboration with Studio Trigger, CD Projekt Red recently expanded upon its Cyberpunk 2077 universe, with the new anime, Cyberpunk Edgerunners. The 10-episode series was released on September 13, causing a positive turnout in the player count. This would be the second time the Polish developers have been able to increase game sales by capitalising on Netflix adaptations — much later since launch.
Previously, the studio saw similar results with The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, as the Henry Cavill-led live-action series dropped on Netflix, inspiring many players to jump back into the fantasy realm.
Cyberpunk 2077 has clearly seen a resurgence this year, with the developers spending the past 20 months, working on patches to fix game-breaking issues across PC and consoles. The game saw a disastrous launch on the PS4, involving atrociously low framerates and crashes, to the point where Sony had to delist the game from its online stores. It was eventually brought back in June 2021, but with a warning stating that the game was best experienced on the PS4 Pro and PS5. Since then, the title has seen several improvements, in addition to fresh content.
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Earlier this month, in celebration of the anime launch, CD Projekt Red unveiled some in-game swag, including a shotgun from the anime and a Legendary jacket. Titled Patch 1.6, the update added three new gigs — Concrete Cage Trap, Desperate Measures, and Nasty Hangover. Cross-progression was also enabled across all platforms, letting you launch PC save files on consoles (or vice versa), and pick up from where you left off.
The Night City Wire broadcast also saw the reveal of Cyberpunk 2077’s first major DLC, Phantom Liberty. The expansion brings back Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand, and sets your character, V, on a path to form an allegiance to the “New United States of America.” The teaser hinted at the rise of oppressive ruling in Night City, lots of dead government officials, combat using an electric whip, and a new mystery character. Further information on the same will be available closer to its launch in 2023. The expansion will be out on PC, Xbox Series S/X, and PS5.