It’s official: CD Projekt RED is releasing Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition on December 5. As confirmed by earlier leaks (including the one about its cover art), the re-release of Cyberpunk 2077 is similar to a Game of the Year Edition. It has all the goodies that has been added to Cyberpunk 2077 since its release, from the base game to its subsequent updates and, most important of all, its lone premium-priced expansion, Phantom Liberty. The official reveal confirms that it will be exclusive to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.
This marks the first time that CDPR will physically release Cyberpunk 2077 on current-gen consoles, which is excellent news for those who prefer to own physical copies of their favorite games.
Now that’s out of the way, it’s time we talk about the elephant in the room – Cyberpunk 2077 and how it (and others in the future) deserves to get its flowers.
Make no mistake. CDPR earned all the backlash when Cyberpunk 2077 came out. Whether it was because the QA team lied (studios shouldn’t outsource QA to third-party companies anyway) or the higher ups forced Cyberpunk 2077 out of the gates before it was ready or the executives wanted to capitalize on a multi-generational role – technically, it worked as Cyberpunk 2077 sold really well, it’s just that many of those copies were refunded and sales stagnated for a while – CDPR needed to get its head straight (and wallets flushed) to fix Cyberpunk 2077. Three years later, it’s now in a state where you could argue that it deserves to be nominated for Game of the Year.
Of course, we know that it won’t happen, which is why The Game Awards might want to reconsider adding at least one new category: a best DLC/Expansion award.
The Game Awards’ 24 game-rated categories, each with six nominees, is plenty enough for the three-hour long event, but it’s easy to make a case to add more without necessarily making it longer. Then again, is a longer TGA such a bad thing when we get awesome moments from the likes of Christopher Judge last year?
The event has added/removed categories from time to time. However, a best DLC/Expansion award has never been part of it. In fact, and maybe because it’s now effectively the biggest annual video game event, The Game Awards’ only recent major category addition was the Best Game Adaptation last year.
We’re aware that the Best Ongoing Game and Best Community Support cover potential post-launch expansions, but, by default, these awards go to live-service titles. In fact, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which is very deserving of both awards, might end up winning them again for the third year in a row after already going back-to-back in 2021 and 2022. It’s also unfair if Square Enix’s uber popular MMORPG doesn’t win either or both just because of voter fatigue – this would only make the case for a new award even stronger.
By specifying that the award is for DLCs and expansions, The Game Awards is creating a new space for them.
CDPR has done an excellent enough job winning over fans again that it has a fighting chance against Final Fantasy XIV for Best Community Support, but this brings us back to our original point – one shouldn’t take away from the other.
Admittedly, there’s a sense of redundancy by dedicating a total of three awards to just post-launch support. However, a Best DLC/Expansion award helps clarify things and give future expansions a chance to win an accolade. Even if Phantom Liberty won’t be there to win the award, we’d like to believe that it generated enough traction to start the conversation.
The Game Awards will be held on December 7. The highlight, as always, is The Game of the Year award, which is easily the most stacked it has been in recent years if not ever.
