After numerous delays and years of anticipation, CD Projekt Red's first post- Witcher series title, Cyberpunk 2077 is finally set to release in just a few weeks on December 10. As is standard with major game releases, physical copies of games are shipped in their masses to retailers slightly before release to ensure the distribution is ready to go for launch day.
As a result of this, it is commonplace to see early copies of games begining to circulate a few days to a week before launch - largely due to copies being stolen by employees from various retaillers. However, it appears with 17 days still to go until launchm the first copies of Cyberpunk 2077 are already out in the wild.
NEWS
Just a few days agom our first look at a copy of Cyberpunk 2077 appeared online via Reddit user Justgonnasendit90 , who acquired the first physical image of the highly anticipated title via his job at an Amazon warehouse. Since then it was only a matter of time until someone got their hands on a copy of the game to try and boot it up. That has finally happened.
Typically, it is standard for a major AAA title to require some kind of patch after downloading the on-disc content before the game can be launched, however Cyberpunk has no such security measures in place. As a result, about 20 minutes of gameplay has already begun to circulate online from the early missions of the game ( via users on ResetEra ).
WHAT THIS MEANS
It's always expected with major releases that early gameplay will leak online. For example, earlier this month with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War , early copies began to circulate up to a week before release and gameplay quickly spread online. This would be a standard timeframe, which makes it particuarly surprising to see early copies showing up with 17 days still to go until release. The lack of a patch requirement to prevent players with illegal discs gaining access to the game is a major mistake on the part of developer, CD Projekt Red.
It's important to note that as a result of this, players will begin to complete the story of the game in the coming days and spoilers will likely begin to circulate online. A similar situation occured earlier in the year with The Last of Us Part 2 where, significantly before release, major story spoilers went viral, ruining many users' experience with the title. If you wish to stay spoiler-free, it is recommended to mute all Cyberpunk- related words and hash tags on your social media platforms of choice, along with avoiding related comment sections.
Cyberpunk 2077 releases December 10 2020 on PS4, Xbox One and PC, with a next-gen upgrade to PS5 and Xbox Series X coming free of charge in early 2021.