Cyberpunk 2077 enjoys resurgence after latest patch and Edgerunners release

Cyberpunk 2077 is enjoying a resurgence after the release of the Edgerunners Update and Netflix anime. Several players are giving the game another chance after watching the anime. The numbers are starting to reflect that.

Benji-Sales, a video game sales analyst pointed out in a tweet that Cyberpunk hit a major benchmark in terms of peak concurrent players on Steam. The game surpassed The Witcher 3's all-time peak of 103,329 and over the last 24 hours, 124k steam users played it. Those are some pretty impressive numbers considering The Witcher 3 is among the most beloved games of the past decade.

The game was plagued by a troubled launch, riddled with game-breaking bugs, refund requests, and criticism of its excessive marketing. Nonetheless, the folks over at CDPR have been working hard to turn things around. After the latest update, the gameplay experience also appears to be stable. Many players have taken to social media to talk about how much fun they're having with Cyberpunk 2077.

The recently released Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime on Netflix is receiving a lot of love from viewers. In fact, the show does a lot of favors to the game and is encouraging players to give it another shot. Players that had written off Cyberpunk 2077 are mighty impressed with the Netflix anime and returning to the game.

While critics did boost the ratings of the show with glowing reviews, the audience is genuinely enjoying it, citing interesting characters and exciting storytelling. Cyberpunk Edgerunners boosts Netflix's increasing presence in the gaming space, joining the likes of Arcane and the upcoming Apex Legends TV series.

In addition to the Netflix anime, CDPR released the Cyberpunk Edgerunners update for Cyberpunk 2077. In doing so, they added content from the anime to the game, attracting viewers to try it out. The update additionally includes exciting features ranging from character customization to new missions, weapons, and a host of improvements to general gameplay. The patch notes are live on the Cyberpunk 2077 website.

Of course, many players would point out the obviously unfinished state of the game at launch. The experience was so bad on the Playstation 4 and Xbox One consoles that it was removed by the stores. It didn't help their case that CDPR tied up with Microsoft and Nvidia to launch a thematic Xbox One console and a GTX 1080 graphics card that couldn't run the game properly. Indeed, a very poor marketing decision that fell flat on its face. However, the developers will tell you that these issues were a byproduct of a bigger problem.

Jason Schreier, a revered investigative journalist working for Bloomberg released a report highlighting the shambolic state of the Cyberpunk 2077 developers. Many of the employees told Schreier that they were working through burnout and depression diagnoses under questionable leadership and game direction. In essence, they were working 100-hour work weeks and it was taking a toll on their mental health.

Still, many players have chosen to overlook the poor launch, and instead focus on the more complete and finished product. And with the second-hand good will of Trigger's masterful animation work, even a bad launch and awful working conditions can be forgotten in the name of enjoying the world of Cyberpunk 2077.