Cyberpunk 2077 went down in history as one of the worst video game launches ever. It was released at a transitional period in terms of graphics technology which meant that a ton of people who were playing on hardware capable of playing most games suddenly couldn’t operate with the horribly unoptimized mess that was Cyberpunk 2077. On top of that, even if you had a machine mighty enough to run the title at a framerate that wasn’t nausea-inducing, you still had to fight your way through the endless, and I mean endless sea of bugs that plagued the game. All of these factors, combined with the ENORMOUS hype around the game’s launch, left everyone eager as hell to jump on the anti-Cyberpunk meme train when disappointed, and thus it all came together to create the most disastrous launch I can remember in terms of raw impact on the gaming community. With this horrible start, the game basically died on arrival outside of the usual hardcore dedicated fanbase. That was, until a certain loli with a pistol began calling people “chooms” on the Internet. 

Cyberpunk Edgerunners came out of nowhere thanks to the typical Netflix “we schedule anime whenever and however we want” that devastates my fucking schedule every single time. So much so that I haven’t even watched it yet. However, if you’ve been online at all you probably realized that you don’t have to watch this anime to feel its impact; it’s everywhere. Waifu wars over Lucy vs Rebecca, Rebecca memes, and in general all the anime reviewers of the world screaming to watch it immediately, as well as people testing out and posting new builds of their Cyberpunk 2077 characters trying to emulate fighting styles that were displayed in the anime. This shit is everywhere. The anime has garnished a huge amount of attention thanks to Trigger’s solid animation skills combined with the thick atmosphere of the cyberpunk world and a bussin’ story. At least so I’m told. Putting Rebecca’s poignant influence on the meme world to the side (there will be plenty of articles on her ass later), I wanted to focus more on just how much impact this anime has had on Cyberpunk 2077 as it may encourage other gaming companies to pursue this route, for better or worse.

Hard to believe this gremlin saved anything.

Now some credit has to be given to the developers at CD Projekt Red, as they have been consistently updating and patching the game to make it better ever since the beginning. That being said patching doesn’t score marketing points and while appreciated by the fans I don’t think it convinced many other people to give the game a second chance, or convinced any new players to dip their toes in the water. However, it DID help to create the perfect storm for when this anime debuted. The fact that the game was in a much better state, coupled with this anime taking over the world by storm truly created an attractive sell for many people. Hell, even the Steam page now uses clips from Cyberpunk Edgerunners and directly compares them to characters/builds in the game. The numbers don’t lie either, as Cyberpunk 2077 has climbed all the way to the Top 10 Best Sellers and Top 10 Most Played lists on Steam this week. I dare say this shit can now be deemed a successful project. And it only took a couple of years after launch, an anime, and a loli.

Damn, it beat Football Manager 2022?

In the future I hope to see games released in a state where we don’t have to wait years afterwards to finally enjoy them, but at this point that’s probably a pipe dream so instead I hope that other companies see this tactic yet approach it with caution. If the anime was shit, I can’t imagine the amount of dogpiling on cyberpunk that there would have been. “LOL this horrible game was garbage, and now the anime is janky too, they can’t do anything right”. It probably would have been the final nail in the coffin. Instead, since Trigger worked magic, it became the best marketing that money could buy. It’s a risky move that can either be amazing or deter people from the franchise while costing a lot of money, so we’ll have to see how other companies approach utilizing anime for games. I guess Genshin Impact will have to live up to the standard set by Trigger. I bet ufotable is up for the challenge. Did you watch Cyberpunk Edgerunners? Did you play the game Cyberpunk 2077? Are more companies going to try and produce anime from now on? Load up your shotgun, get called a choom, and find anime Keanu Reeves in the comments below!