It may seem like ages ago, but the controversy surrounding Cyberpunk 2077 happened within the past year. The controversy was, at least in part, stymied by promises from developer CD Projekt Red to continue working to improve the game, while also working towards major DLC updates expanding the Cyberpunk 2077's content. 2021 since has been a very quiet year from CD Projekt Red, however, and has led to a recent quiet confirmation that no further updates or DLC will be released this year.
In January, CD Project Red published a Cyberpunk 2077 development roadmap as part of a message to the community titled "Our Commitment." This roadmap previously featured a section titled "Multiple Updates & Improvements" along with notes for "Free DLCs" and "Free Next-Gen Console Update" in the 2021 year. An October 28 update, however, has changed that. The roadmap has removed this second from 2021, effectively stating that no further updates or DLC are planned for Cyberpunk 2077 for the rest of the year.
The updated roadmap for Cyberpunk 2077 has a new section in 2022 for "Q1," the first three months of the year. It's in this section that Cyberpunk 2077's next-gen console update is now listed. This aligns with CD Project Red's previous announcement, which also confirmed the next-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had also been delayed into 2022. Further, "Updates, Improvements, and Free DLCs" are highlighted for release throughout all of 2022, though no specific dates or releases are mentioned.
It's worth acknowledging that by no means has CD Projekt Red been passive with regards to the continued support of Cyberpunk 2077. The roadmap has accurately recorded the release of five patches and three hotfixes in 2021. The most recent, Cyberpunk 2077's patch 1.31 dropped on September 14 and addressed over a dozen small but notable lingering issues.
On one hand, Cyberpunk 2077 players are certain to be disappointed that CD Projekt Red hasn't and won't be delivering any content-focused updates in 2021. On the other hand, CD Projekt Red has likely reached the point where frequent smaller updates have diminishing returns, being expensive and not particularly exciting to remaining players. If CD Projekt Red has continued plans for Cyberpunk 2077, larger updates with more substance likely have a much better upside.
For the time being, expectations surrounding Cyberpunk 2077's future can accurately be described as uncertain. Even today's roadmap update was made quietly done without notice via either Cyberpunk 2077 or CD Projekt Red's social media channels. Whether that means CD Projekt Red is hoping everyone's moving on from Cyberpunk 2077 so it can too, or something else, who's to tell.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S support arriving in Q1 2022.