Xbox Game Pass is having a banner month, with the release of Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite's multiplayer. It's the nature of the service, and the demand of its subscribers, to always introduce new exciting games, however. That's part of why a recent rumor regarding Cyberpunk 2077 coming to Xbox Game Pass drew a lot of attention. In this case, however, it seems rumors of a new Xbox Game Pass addition were wrong. CD Projekt Red says Cyberpunk 2077 is not coming to Xbox Game Pass at this time.
The rumor was squashed by CD Projekt Red's global public relations director, Radek Grabowski. In a response posted on Twitter, Grabowski made clear that CD Projekt Red currently has no plans to release Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox Game Pass. That obviously leaves the door open for Cyberpunk 2077 to come to the subscription service further down the line, but any rumored plans for a release in the near future appear to be incorrect.
What stirred up these rumors in the first place was worth taking seriously. Xbox released a trailer for its Xbox Cloud Gaming service, a part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, that featured footage from Cyberpunk 2077. Xbox Cloud Gaming's key feature is playing Xbox Game Pass releases across multiple devices. As such, many believed Cyberpunk 2077's inclusion in the video was either a hint at Cyberpunk 2077's upcoming release on Xbox Game Pass or a leak.
It's now clear that Cyberpunk 2077 was not put in the video for any reason related to Xbox Game Pass, which is odd because Xbox Cloud Gaming only works with Xbox Game Pass games at this point in time. Perhaps the trailer confused the issue, teasing the possibility of other digital games being available to stream via cloud. That's another rumor entirely, however.
Yet the issue surrounding the possibility of Cyberpunk 2077 coming to Xbox Game Pass is actually somewhat more complex. There's a controversy behind some subscribers' responses. That's because, in many's views, Cyberpunk 2077 hasn't been adequately improved yet by CD Projekt Red. Launching on a platform like Xbox Game Pass before more robust improvements have been made would, in their eyes, be unfortunate.
Luckily, any potential controversy has been avoided for the time being. Cyberpunk 2077 isn't coming to Xbox Game Pass at this time and CD Projekt Red continues to work on improvements, though nothing will arrive until 2022. Perhaps then, with an update or even a DLC launched, CD Projekt Red will bring Cyberpunk 2077 to Xbox Game Pass without controversy.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.