Cyberpunk 2077 DLC Price Revealed
Cyberpunk 2077's next DLC, Phantom Liberty, won't be a free: we're estimating it will cost between $20-$30.
The previously revealed expansion for the infamous Cyberpunk 2077, titled Phantom Liberty, won’t be a free DLC. This was confirmed by CD Projekt RED (CDPR), but the company hasn’t revealed the exact pricing for the upcoming content. While paid expansions aren’t a novelty in the gaming world, they are traditionally cheaper than the base game; some gamers believe that CDPR should make the DLC free as additional recompense for all the stress gamers had to go through during the game’s initial release.
According to Destructoid, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty still doesn’t have an official release date, but we know it’s supposed to launch sometime next year. The official pricing still remains a mystery, but if we take into account that the base game cost $60 at launch, and we take the pricing of The Witcher DLCs — the franchise that’s currently expanding — we can easily assume that the upcoming content shouldn’t cost more than $20. If we factor in that Ubisoft and other developers increased the prices of their AAA gaming titles, we can bump up that number to no more than $30.
Anything more than $30 could put CDPR in the crosshairs of another gaming riot, which already took place during Cyberpunk 2077’s launch after gamers found out that they waited eight years for a gaming title that didn’t work. They should at least have a good refund policy in place this time if all the hype surrounding the upcoming content turns out the be nothing but a misleading marketing masterplan. Otherwise, Cyberpunk 2077 might end up being the downfall of CDPR.
For those that aren’t familiar with the story, Cyberpunk 2077 was so disappointingly bad at launch that gamers demanded refunds. Unfortunately, the company never intended to return the money, which caused a massive wave of controversies, apologies, and the game’s subsequent removal from various digital storefronts, with the end result being the near ruination of CD Projekt RED, whose stock prices have dropped by nearly 60% since. In fact, they still haven’t recovered.
They eventually made the game playable, and Cyberpunk 2077 was reinstated to its position on various digital storefronts. CD Projekt RED actually dealt insane price cutbacks as means of promoting the game, and there were instances in which you could purchase the game for a mere $5 online. Needless to say, the game is currently operational, and its fandom is pleased with the outcome, but the same can’t be said in regard to the upcoming expansion.
Will it suffer the same issues as the main game? Should it be free as recompense for all the troubles and hours of lost progress gamers had to deal with? Well, the truth is that Cyberpunk 2077 already had a few smaller DLCs which introduced various mods and cosmetics. This isn’t typical downloadable content; Phantom Liberty is a narrative expansion, and as such, it’s much more than a mere DLC.
We’re going to voice an unpopular opinion here: teams that work on these games are funded through paid releases and aren’t responsible for the bad calls made by their higher-ups. Boycotting a paid DLC in any way would result in cutbacks in their paychecks, not the paycheck of their CEO, CFO, or COO, whose bad calls made Cyberpunk 2077 as lousy as it was when it was released two years ago.
Make that $30, since Ubisoft and other developers raised the prices of games, and Sony and Microsoft bumping up the prices of their respective gaming consoles.
