What should the multiplayer of Cyberpunk 2077 look like? After the change in developer strategy, many questions remain unanswered, we collect all the info.
- The developers of Cyberpunk 2077 have changed their business strategy, which also affects the multiplayer
- Multiplayer development is not currently a high priority for CD Projekt Red
- Multiplayer will probably not be a standalone game, but will consist of online features
- Multiplayer for Cyberpunk and / or The Witcher will probably be released gradually
- At the moment they are mainly focusing on updates and patches for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
What will the multiplayer mode for Cyberpunk 2077 look like? A lot has happened since the launch of the game: In an investor call on 30 March 2021, developer CD Projekt announced that the business strategy would be changed. And especially regarding the multiplayer, many questions remain unanswered.
In the following article, we summarise all the information known so far about the multiplayer of Cyberpunk 2077: What has already been officially confirmed and what is currently only speculation.
Table of Contents
This is known about the multiplayer of Cyberpunk 2077
Multiplayer standalone or online features?
Since CD Projekt’s strategy change, it’s been unclear whether multiplayer will be released as a standalone game at all – or whether it will be an expansion to Cyberpunk 2077 that brings online elements. CEO Adam Kicinski said:
We’re changing our approach, we definitely want to have online elements in our future games, but step by step. We’re working on adding those features to our single player games, but we’re not working on releasing the next game as an online experience. So, we will enhance our single player games with online experiences.
They would not comment on plans further in the future. When asked, CD Projekt confirmed that they are still planning “some form of multiplayer” for Cyberpunk 2077 and that “online experiences” in this case means players can play together in some way. There are no further details, however.
First priority is given to patches and the NextGen updates for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 anyway. So it will probably be some time before we hear anything new about multiplayer – and the project has not yet appeared on the new roadmap for 2022 anyway.
Release: When will the multiplayer be released?
Multiplayer probably still a long way off: After a postponement of the originally planned content for 2021 with a new roadmap for 2022, the multiplayer for Cyberpunk 2077 will probably have to wait even longer. This is because the promised free DLCs and expansions are also coming later than expected. The multiplayer mode itself is also not mentioned on this new roadmap.
This merely confirms (official statements from January 2020). At that time, Michal Nowakowski, board member of CD Projekt Red, stated that a release in 2021 was “very unlikely”. Resulting forecasts therefore assumed a release in 2022 at the earliest. This could also be further delayed by the hacker attack and the necessary patches.
Release planned step by step: From a recent investor conference of CD Projekt Red from (end of November 2021) it emerges that CD Projekt Red wants to implement the multiplayer modes for Cyberpunk and The Witcher step by step. According to this, there will probably be no release date on which the multiplayer modes will be completely and finally available, but they will be added over time and expanded later.
Real money purchases: will there be microtransactions?
Costly content planned: In an older (Quarterly Report) microtransactions for the multiplayer of Cyberpunk 2077 were already confirmed. However, the developer is still keeping quiet about their exact nature. Thus, it is not known whether these will only be skins, or whether other things will also be offered for real money.
It was said that these should “make players happy” and will also be “non-aggressive”. This suggests that the multiplayer of Cyberpunk 2077 will do without Pay2Win mechanics or in-game advantages available for real money.
At the moment, however, this is still mere speculation.
Rumours, Leaks and Predictions
From here on, potential info on Cyberpunk 2077’s multiplayer that was either leaked or unearthed with the help of datamining. This means that the developer has not yet officially confirmed them.
Accordingly, it is quite possible that this information will change by the time the multiplayer is released or that it will only partially correspond to the truth. So please take the following lines with a grain of salt!
DLCs: Are expansions planned?
Model similar to GTA Online: As the analytics company M Science (via TheGamer) claims to have read from the comments of CD Projekt Red, the multiplayer mode of Cyberpunk 2077 could be expanded with free DLCs or Seasons. A principle not dissimilar to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto Online is to be followed.
In concrete terms, this would mean that expansions for the multiplayer of Cyberpunk 2077 would be free of charge and the further development of the mode would be financed through microtransactions – as already mentioned above.
This means that not only expansions for the single player campaign of Cyberpunk 2077 are planned.
Game modes: What will there be to play?
Deathmatch: Dataminers found a number of text sections that point to the existence of a Deathmatch mode. Traditionally, this PvP mode pits everyone against everyone and your goal is to be the player with the most kills at the end of the match.
Heists: The second game mode found in the files might let you do some heists, judging by the name. The other details about this mode are still a bit vague. It seems that you first meet other players in a collection area before the actual heist starts.
It is unknown exactly how this will work. It is also not yet clear whether you will fight against other players in the matches – i.e. PvP – or whether you will compete cooperatively against the AI in PvE style.
Is a co-op mode coming? Originally it was said that the MP component will be “handled like a separate game”. At the moment we do not expect that you will be able to play the single player campaign together with one or more friends. However, this does not exclude the possibility that there will be cooperative missions in the online mode. Concrete indications of this are still missing, however.
Classes: Will there be different roles?
Choice of ready-made classes: From the game files themselves also comes the information that there will be at least four classes. So apparently, at least in Heist mode, you can choose between the following four classes – whether there will be more remains to be seen:
- Solo
- Assassin
- Netrunner
- Techie
Each role seems to be unique For some text sections indicate that the game will not start as long as a character is represented more than once. Accordingly, in the course of a heist mission, the focus seems to be on a balance between different abilities so that each player can take on a unique role for the heist. Once again, parallels to GTA Online are apparent here.
Online matches: Are there dedicated servers?
Multiplayer apparently Peer2Peer: According to dataminers, there are indications that Cyberpunk 2077 will not use dedicated servers. The connections would be established directly between the players. However, this could also be just code left over from the development.
