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Cyberpunk 2077 dev says cut content is cut “for a reason”

The Cyberpunk 2077 quest director has talked about why games end up cutting content, and what it means to take something out of an RPG game in the end.

Cyberpunk 2077 dev says cut content is cut "for a reason": Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand stood with hands on his hips

As with all games, Cyberpunk 2077 had content cut by CD Projekt Red. Whether it’s due to quality, production schedules, or an idea not meshing with the rest of a project, RPG games are no stranger to leaving things on the cutting room floor. So if you want to hear it from a Cyberpunk developer themself, and why this happens, we have a treat for you.

Talk of cut content in videogame development in general and for CD Projekt Red titles like Cyberpunk 2077 comes from quest director Paweł Sasko, who also worked on The Witcher 3. Sasko also talked about how Cyberpunk 2077’s story criticisms were “justified” when compared to what was shown ahead of release earlier this year if you want to hear them go in-depth on the game.

Just one high-profile example is Cyberpunk 2077’s train system which went unused until it was modded in after CDPR said it had no plans to add it.

“Unused content is unused for a reason,” Sasko says. “When you’re actually making the game, your responsibility as a designer is to make all of those calls about what actually gets into your game. That’s your responsibility.

“When the quality is not there, you can see that there’s no way to bring it up to [the same quality as another of] the nine out of ten quests, or locations, or gameplay features. I think it’s really important to remember this, if something is unused, this is done for a reason.

“We normally want to make our games as rich and as deep as we can for you,” Sasko says of projects like The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077. “We want to provide you with the best possible game we have, that’s always the goal.”

Sasko was then asked about new content in Cyberpunk 2077, and he very deftly says he has “no knowledge about new content” from other departments but adds that he is in fact testing things. We see you Mr. Sasko, well played.

You can see the clip of Sasko on Reddit, or alternatively, you check out their Twitch, where Sasko plays CDPR’s games and talks about the development of titles like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

In the meantime we can keep you up to date with the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty release date, as CDPR readies us for the colossal DLC. We’ve also got a breakdown of all the Cyberpunk 2077 endings if you jump back in, and a look at the best cyberpunk games on PC if you want games with a similar vibe.