Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that many in the gaming community have been waiting years for. Initially announced back in May of 2012 and finally shown off at E3 2018, it's almost hard for some to believe that Cyberpunk 2077 is just over two weeks away from releasing. Sadly, next-gen ports of the game will not be released on the game's release date, but it seems now that CD Projekt Red has a way for players to play on next-gen without having to restart their progress.
Cyberpunk 2077 will be releasing on the current generation of systems with next-gen ports slated to release sometime in 2021. Having said this, some people have been waiting to play this game for quite a long time, and likely won't want to wait for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S ports to release. Thankfully, for those looking to buy the game on a PS4 and then transfer their progress to a PS5 for instance, there is a solution.
Via the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter page, it was announced that cross-saving between console generations is not only a viable option, but the tweet also included links to CD Projekt Red's support site that shows players how to transfer their save data across platforms; one for Xbox Series X/S and one for PS5. For PlayStation owners there's multiple ways to do this, such as uploading saves through PS Plus, transferring through a LAN cable or Wi-Fi connection, or by simply using a compatible storage device. For Xbox owners, simply utilize Xbox Smart Delivery.
While this does offer many people a great way of continuing the game on the next console generation, it also plays very well in terms of the backwards compatible nature of both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. The PS5 already has a save data transfer feature with the PS4 anyway, so this actually helps players in a massive way.
Considering that consumers can just buy the game on PS4 or Xbox One and then, because the PS5 and Xbox Series X are backwards compatible with the previous console generation, the game can just be continued from where players left off via the cross-save feature. This could actually lead to an interesting loophole.
Given the fact that next-gen games are already ten dollars more expensive than the retail cost of a new game on the previous generation, it's possible for players to just buy an Xbox One version of Cyberpunk 2077 and just play it on the Series X and not have to buy it again. Then again, it's possible that that version of the game may not run as well comparatively. However, most would likely argue that it's much better than just buying the same game twice.
Cyberpunk 2077 is set to launch on December 10th, 2020 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions still in development.