Keanu Reeves appeared at The Game Awards and is currently “back” in the public gaming eye, thanks to the Unreal Engine 5 demonstration in The Matrix Awakens (as a promo for the upcoming movie, too). It’s obviously not his first game though, as he portrays Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077. As part of that, he appeared several times for the game, appeared in ads, and the like. No one can forget Keanu Reeves’ “breathtaking” appearance at E3 after all.
Back in November 2020, just before Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous launch, Keanu Reeves had reportedly played the game. This came way of CD Projekt Red President Adam Kicinski who “confirmed” that Keanu Reeves had played CP2077 and claimed that he loved it. Considering the launch status of Cyberpunk 2077, which in all fairness has improved quite a bit since December 2020, this would hold up if Reeves had played the PC version. However, according to the actor, he hasn’t actually played it at all.
During a recent interview with The Verge regarding The Matrix Awakens, Reeves was asked if he plays video games. The answer was a resounding no. The interviewer followed up by asking about Cyberpunk 2077, with Reeves responding that he has seen demonstrations but never actually played it. Notably, this stands in stark contrast to Kicinski’s claims back in November. Reeves' answer can be seen around the 16:45 mark in the video below.
CD Projekt Red currently faces a lawsuit from its own investors, wherein the investors claim that CDPR lied about the state of Cyberpunk 2077 before release and that the company knew the game was unplayable on PS4 and Xbox One but withheld that from shareholders. In the grand scheme of things, not being truthful about an actor’s involvement is probably small potatoes, but it did some leg work in getting fans hyped for the game’s upcoming release. Since Cyberpunk 2077’s launch, though, CDPR has apologized and has stated that it will be more careful with marketing before moving forward.
It remains to be seen how much of this comment is in good faith, but it’s worth mentioning that the game received a lot of love online following Black Friday. Cyberpunk 2077’s Steam version was flooded with positive reviews, it trended on Twitter, and it seems if CDPR plays its cards right, Cyberpunk 2077’s reputation can only go up. The best aspect given all of this was the delay of Cyberpunk 2077’s PS5 and Xbox Series X version, which was reportedly due to input from the development team—something that CDPR also reportedly didn’t listen to prior to launch.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are in development.
Source: The Verge