Cyberpunk 2077 dev: 'We don't 'f@#k around' when it comes to sex, drugs and violence

By Jennifer Locke
last updated

As if we ever expected any differently, Cyberpunk 2077 looks like it'll be rated M.

Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 (Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

What you need to know

  • Brazil's advisory rating board revealed that Cyberpunk 2077 was rated 18+.
  • The rating was attributed to violence, sex, drugs, and foul language.
  • Cyberpunk 2077's lead quest designed commented on the rating saying that the developer doesn't f@#k around.

Please pretend to act surprised. It looks like Cyberpunk 2077 contains copious amounts of violence, drugs, sex, and foul language. Because of course it does. This was found by some eagle-eyed fans who spotted the 18+ rating that Brazil's advisory board gave the game in the country. Though the listing was eventually taken down, people had already screenshotted the page on Reddit.

CD Projekt RED hasn't officially commented on the rating, but lead quest designer Pawel Sasko took to Twitter to share what he thought of it. The studio certainly doesn't mess around with adult themes.

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Because the rating was originally in Portuguese, the translation isn't perfect, so it's hard to tell exactly what we'll see in the game. There are references to "mutilation, suicide, sexual exploitation, prostitution" and a lot more.

It's unknown what the ESRB has rated the game, but all signs point to it being rated M. While an Adult Only (AO) rating is possible depending on the content, that would prevent the game from being released on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam, three of the biggest platforms around the world.

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Cyberpunk 2077 aims to be CD Projekt RED's most ambitious game yet, with a mature story set in the corrupt yet thriving Night City. As V, track down the secrets to digital immortality however you see best.

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Jennifer Locke
Jennifer Locke

Jennifer Locke has been playing video games nearly her entire life, and is very happy Xbox is growing a stronger first-party portfolio. You can find her obsessing over Star Wars and other geeky things on Twitter @JenLocke95.

21 Comments
  • Virtually every time there's a mass shooting somewhere in the world (usually in the United States), there's a renewed outcry over the presence of guns in our world. Likewise, when we hear of rapes and sexual assaults, we decry the objectification of women and sexual abuse in our culture. But when I see previews of games, movies, etc. that shamelessly glorify this stuff, I wonder to what degree we unwittingly normalize horrific thoughts and behavior in the compromised minds of people where the lines between fantasy and reality are increasingly blurred.
  • It's a fair question but this issue, at least regarding violence, has been studied extensively. Gun violence is overwhelmingly a USA problem, but the entire world plays violent videogames. Guns are ubiquitous in the USA. It's the guns, not the games, that are correlated with gun violence. Gaming actually also keeps people at home.
  • @9001020 - Thanks for your response: you make good points. I guess I was thinking of this as more of a contributory factor, rather than a sole cause. I just have a hard time believing that none of us are negatively impacted by this type of media.
  • Sure thing. These are difficult topics to discuss and act upon, but we must do so, instead of ignoring these issues. I forgot to mention that gun violence also doesn't correlate well with mental illness, for basically similar reasons.
  • I think it depends on your relationship with guns or whatever topic we may be debating. Like I may love donuts and can healthily eat them once a week, but if I go binging donuts everyday it's going to ruin my health. Does it have to be either completely get rid of donuts or else have bad health? Similarly, I'm not necessarily advocating for either the total removal of guns OR keeping guns around as they are (in the US) nor are they necessarily the only options. Maybe our society/culture should be more focused on teaching deescalation/conflict resolution in nonviolent ways as an example. Plus combine that with more stringent background checks, classes you have to take before being able to own a gun, needing to pass a test, etc. It's very complicated as you've said.
  • I agree with your points. Normalizing doesn't necessarily equal condoning/approval either. What's sad, specifically about the US and the NRA, is that the NRA has been able to prevent the study of guns and their effects on society in the US.
  • Simple, Americans care more about their "freedom" than their lives.
  • The freedom to be shot down at school. Can't be many places, outside of a warzone, where that is a thing. The gun topic is a nightmare. Doesn't Switzerland have a crazy amount of guns, per person. They don't suffer the same issue. Multi-factoral is my best word, it's the culture, the availability and a ton of other things.
  • I wish I could disagree, but all you have to do is look at the anti-lockdown protests to see that. At the same time, they only care about THEIR freedom as well, not about the others' that they may infringe upon by making them sick.
  • Correction: Free-Dumb TFIFY.
  • The original Looney Toons(Bugs Bunny, Daffy duck, Yosemite Sam, Wyle E Coyote, Sylvester the cat , Daffy Duck, etc) and Tom and Jerry were full of violence long before video games. There may not have been any blood, but there were plenty of characters being shot, burned, blown up, etc. And most of the people from that era turned out just fine. Some people use the violence in video games and movies as a scapegoat so as not to take the blame for their actions and for some, lack of action for not passing gun laws.
  • The second amendment actually states that guns should be regulated.
  • Guns ARE regulated. The elephant in the room will be all the young kids playing this game, a 18+ game. Just like my neighbors letting their 8 year old play GTA. Awesome parenting, America.
  • Everyone in the world lets kids play violent games and nothing bad happens, kids aren't that stupid, they know that hurting people is bad and games don't change that. America as problem, it can be guns or not but games definitely aren't.
  • Anyone else think that looks like Justin Timberlake? If it is, then sorry for living under a rock
  • ESRB ratings are stupid as hell, don't you have anything in between M and AO? I thought there was R17+
  • "Because the rating was originally in Brazilian" Portuguese. The language spoken in Brazil is portuguese.
  • Sorry about that, have fixed it.
  • If you let people have guns, eventually one will shoot other. You can't guarantee that every single citizen is mentally healthy.
  • It's shamelessly trying to be the next GTA, and it probably will succeed.
  • well now we know idle sloth loves sexual exploitation..