CD Projekt has denied one of the most persistent Cyberpunk 2077 rumors, insisting they were never ashamed of one of their protagonists. Cyberpunk 2 creative director Igor Sarzynski says there was no “smear campaign” surrounding male V.
Cyberpunk 2077 essentially completed its redemption arc two years ago with Phantom Liberty, yet players keep pouring back into CD Projekt’s futuristic open-world RPG – whether to experience it for the first time or to rediscover its best ideas. This time, however, the community has revived one of the most recurring debates in the fandom: what exactly happened to male V? Before launch, he was positioned as the public face of the game – even while CD Projekt made it clear that a female version was equally available – but after release the studio’s marketing shifted almost entirely toward female V. The truth is, there’s no secret plot behind that choice.
During the early promotional push leading up to the 2020 release, male V dominated the campaign. He was even the protagonist featured on the front cover of the original physical editions, although those releases also showcased female V on the back. But once the game was out – and especially by the time Phantom Liberty arrived – female V had largely taken over that spotlight.
CD Projekt Wanted a Cyberpunk 2077 for Every V
According to Igor Sarzynski, creative director of Cyberpunk 2, the explanation is far simpler than some players assumed. There was no deliberate effort to discredit male V, and no rejection of his look, despite the speculation that circulated online. As Sarzynski put it, male V had already received “all the marketing for the base game”. With the expansion – and the relaunch tied to update 2.0 – CD Projekt wanted to distribute the focus more evenly: “The idea was to have a game for each V.”
Even so, not everyone is convinced it was that straightforward, especially given how aggressively CD Projekt had to reposition Cyberpunk 2077 after its rough launch in order to turn it into a benchmark RPG again. There’s no public data showing how many players choose male V versus female V, but gender does affect certain romances and side narratives, which is precisely why many people do at least two playthroughs to see everything. What’s clear is that with two well-balanced versions of the protagonist – and no meaningful gameplay advantage to picking one over the other – sharing the spotlight is a reasonable creative call. Either way, nothing happening outside the game changes the experience: male V is still there if you want him, even if he’s no longer the marketing centerpiece.
Source: 3djuegos
