Cyberpunk 2077 is experiencing a bit of a player resurgence on Steam right now, and it's likely due to the recent announcement that Netflix and CD Projekt Red will be bringing fans a second series of the critically acclaimed Cyberpunk: Edgerunners series. The first season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners premiered in September 2022 and acted as a prequel to the studio's futuristic RPG, Cyberpunk 2077.
Although developer CD Projekt Red has insisted multiple times now that Cyberpunk 2077 will receive no new updates, it continues to surprise fans with major new patches. Many expected Cyberpunk 2077's 2.2 update to be its last, but CD Projekt Red shared good news for fans last month when it revealed that update 2.3 is on the way for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Unfortunately, the new patch has received a slight delay in its release date. The initial announcement stated that Cyberpunk 2077's next update would be released on June 26, but just days before its release, CD Projekt Red said it wanted to take more time to ensure the update meets its expectations. A new release date for patch 2.3 has yet to be confirmed.
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Posts 4Cyberpunk 2077's 2.3 update has been delayed, but that doesn't appear to have had any effect on the game's player count. According to SteamDB, a third-party website that utilizes backend data from the platform, Cyberpunk 2077's concurrent player count peaked at over 66,000 on July 6, an achievement it had not reached since February. To put that into perspective, the smash-hit RPG has averaged around 30,000 to 40,000 concurrent players on Steam over the past six months. And while it's a long way off from the 1,054,388 players that jumped in at release, having over 60,000 concurrent players for a single-player game that released almost five years ago is massively impressive.
Edgerunners 2 Could Be Why Fans Are Revisiting Cyberpunk 2077
CloseThe sudden uptick in Steam players is likely due to the recent announcement surrounding Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, a new season of the hit anime series that will once again take fans back to Night City. The reveal came during this year’s Anime Expo in Los Angeles, where CD Projekt Red confirmed it will once again be teaming up with studio TRIGGER to bring fans a brand-new story set in the franchise's iconic Nighty City. CD Projekt Red described Season 2 as "a raw, real chronicle of redemption and revenge." Whether or not the announcement has had an impact on Cyberpunk 2077's console player count remains unknown, as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo do not disclose their player count data.
Fans can likely expect Cyberpunk 2077 to receive yet another player count boost when its next update is released. Precisely what is included in the patch remains a mystery, but the studio has said it will be similar in scale to Cyberpunk 2077's 2.2 update, which introduced new gameplay features, such as new vehicle customization options, new purchaseable vehicles via Autofixer, an overhaul to the game's photo mode, plenty of bug fixes, quality-of-life improvements, and much more.
