CD Projekt boss says Cyberpunk 2077 movie won't be "film adaptation of game"

The game is great, but CD Projekt wants to tell a new story.

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Last week we learned that a Cyberpunk 2077 movie was in the works, an announcement I was mainly talking about a completely different cyberpunk movie starring Keanu Reeves as a guy named Johnny who's having a bad week. Now we've gotten more insight into what CD Projekt Red has in store for the film, and it's possible that a man named Johnny won't be involved at all.

"Our contract with Anonymous Content expired, and in the meantime, there was an opportunity to develop a partnership with Paramount Pictures," executive Michal Nowakowski told Polish PAP Biznes (translated), referring to the Cyberpunk 2077 "live-action project" that was announced in 2023 and ultimately went nowhere. We decided to do a Cyberpunk live action project with a new formula.

“At this point, we can only say that we definitely do not want to make a film adaptation of the game. We want to tell a story in the Cyberpunk world, but it's not going to be a one-to-one translation of the game's story."

I loved Cyberpunk 2077, and the fact that it featured two Hollywood stars in the lead roles might make it a natural fit for direct translation. But I think it's a wiser move to avoid this approach: V's story has been told, and trying to repeat it on film will only invite unpleasant comparisons and criticism. And it's not like the Night City universe doesn't have other stories to tell, nor would it be difficult to tie it indirectly to the game through references or short films, if the urge to do so is really that strong.

Also remember that two of the most successful game-to-screen adaptations, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Resident Evil, took their respective underlying settings and made them their own. That's basically what Cyberpunk 2077 is, as far as it goes: a vision of Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk tabletop setting, interpreted through the lens of a new timeline. They're all the stronger for it, as they allow developers to work within a specific framework without tying them to specific cases.

Cyberpunk 2077 is becoming a movie, although we've already gotten a great cyberpunk movie starring Keanu Reeves as a man named Johnny.

Following the debacle of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt says The Witcher 4 is currently running on PC and consoles, promising that the game will run on all target platforms.

No Law may be the open world Deus Ex that Cyberpunk 2077 was not

It's too early to tell when all this big screen fun will happen, but Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is set to hit Netflix on October 20th.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 | Official trailer - YouTube

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Andy has been gaming on PCs since he was a teenager, starting with text-adventure and primitive action games on the cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longtime love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He started writing video game news for The Escapist in 2007 and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until he joined the famous PC Gamer community in 2014. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports and Henry Cavill. A lot of Henry Cavill.

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