I dare to dream.
Back when Cyberpunk 2077 was first announced with a Bladerunner inspired music video cinematic that lives on in the hearts of dreamers everywhere, it was with a very ambitious foundation backing it up. CDPR knew from the word 'go' that Cyberpunk 2077 was going to be the biggest project they would ever embark on, and not just in that optimistic sense of "Always growing" like some other games companies like to convince themselves. I'm sure Activision and Ubisoft slightly tick up the amount of revenue that goes into the development of each subsequent sequel on their endless march to blot out the sun with their unending franchises, but it takes the real ambitious studios to try and 'reinvent the wheel' as they like to say. Of course, hindsight being what it is- we now know that Cyberpunk was far too ambitious for the team at hand, and said-team was quite happy to let us all discover that on the day.
But putting aside launch day woes or vapid world simulation systems for a second will allow us look at the really significant branches of development that were entirely paired back. There was the optional 3rd person mode that was supposed to feature, but the reason for that being cut was as much stylistic as it was systematic; Cyberpunk became more and more about immersion within the world of Night City and the first person perspective better sold that dream. (Also cutting third person was a relief on some of the development work, so there was that too.) But I'm thinking of something even bigger and more foundational to the substance of this game that even the perspective of gameplay. And beating around the bush is pretty much redundant given that I literally named it in the title of this blog: I'm talking about the Multiplayer mode that was originally planned.
Do you remember that? Teased in job listings and whispers throughout the many years of development, CPDR were ready to break their virginal seal when it came to online experiences in an increadibly ambitious 'integrated' online mode that sounded like the developer's own take on the ludicrously successful Grand Theft Auto online model. An intuitively accessible MMO-lite ecosystem where players could take their custom-made cyberpunk into an online world to partake in team gigs or deathmatches, races, and whatever else a cyberpunk would do among the company of others. (Blow each other up all day? Probably.) And CDPR were serious about this mode too, serious enough to receive grants from their government to help make this specific system... which I guess they had to give back when it was scrapped? I don't know how creative grants work, I'm throwing darts in the dark here.
If this had seen the light of day it would be likely that Cyberpunk 2077 would have been as synonymous for it's ongoing multiplayer world as for it's singleplayer content, and what was a single entry with one DLC would have likely been a background project supported by a dedicated sub studio for at least the next ten years. This would have been CDPR's GTA Online; only with more creative freedom immune from the backlash that Rockstar receives everytime they throw in a flying bike and a plot to stop some international supervillain. Cyberpunk could have made that work! If only they had the time, personnel and resources. What do you imagine such a new face for Cyberpunk would have looked like? How would that have shaped CDPR?
In such a fantastical world I can envision a content cycle for this 'Cyberpunk online' that is fashioned in packages of campaigns, narrative and theme driven, in a style similar to table top module campaigns. That way each 'release' would be tied in a manner that has a beginning-middle and end which tells an entire contained narrative; somewhat similar to how TESO does it with their year-long content spreads. This would also mean ideas could be based off of past Cyberpunk modules, so fans could have an idea of the sort of stories that CDPR are aiming towards and the cyclical synergistic marketing will funnel extra fans to the board game materials as they wait for each new campaign to drop. That would create the live service model proposition that is similar enough to consistency and dedication of MMO add-ons to feel worthwhile and drag people back into the product year after year.
Perhaps Cyberpunk 2077 mutliplayer would even encourage a competitive scene through one of it's different branches of activities. Perhaps the fire-fights or racing or some other activity would prove strong enough to build seasonal ranked modes off of, dragging in the sweaty crowd. Or maybe if the open world proved robust enough and the development of progression content was handled in a manner that isn't staunchly horizontal and stacked, like I can only assume was the dream of this mode; maybe the mode itself would become the competitive sport. For Runescape the race of becoming the best in a certain skill, or on a certain server, is enough to draw a crowd and competitive scene, such that the developers even encourage and incentivise this sort of play.
And don't forget this was all supposed to be an 'integrated' online mode, meaning we might have been subject to systems like the Dark Souls or Watch_Dogs' raiding system where other players can join and harass you at points throughout the world. Perhaps the world would be littered with dynamic events and situations that might be too much for a single fixer, like a high-level train heist or a guarded fortress, and integrated online systems would pair you up with others in the same activity automatically; or set you against potential rivals to fight for the reward. Honestly, this does sound a little too hectic for me, which is kind of like how the Watch_Dogs games play, but that is the future I envision with this online mode that was never meant to be.
Ultimately the development of Cyberpunk 2077 proved so meddling that the idea was scrapped and the team decided to try and make a functional base game for starters. (Which they largely failed at for a good majority of consumers.) If an online mode had launched, however, and it was successful; we would be at an entirely different CDPR right now. The Witcher 4, with it's character created protagonist, would absolutely be the next game to join their series of 'Integrated Online' games, and CDPR would inevitably start moving their business model to including recurrent online modes just as much as high quality story modes. Maybe, given time, they'd start to lose heart in the quality stories, as that doesn't even really make them the money anymore, and then these online games would start to fall prey to stale shock content and tired uncreative tropes that the community laps up readily because they're so starved of real content. The CDPR that people fell in love with would vanish beneath a cold-faced amalgamation monster that breaths only in 'recurrent player bases' and the franchises we loved would be swallowed in their maw. And one of the greatest single player RPG creators of all time would be lost in a cautionary decent into the basement of their own hubris. Or maybe that wouldn't happen. I guess it would be a toin-coss, really.
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