Cyberpunk 2077 lead reminds everyone cut content is "unused for a reason"

Cyberpunk 2077 mods
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red / keanuWheeze)

Cyberpunk 2077's quest director has commented on cut content surrounding not just CD Projekt's game, but all games in general.

As first reported by PCGamesN earlier this week, Cyberpunk 2077 quest director Pawel Sasko hosted another livestream on his personal Twitch channel, where he regularly fields questions from viewers. This time, the topic turned to cut content, or rather, as Sasko prefers to call it, "unused content."

"Unused content is unused for a reason," Sasko says. "When you're actually making the game, your responsibility as a designer is to make all of those calls about what actually gets into your game," the quest director continues. As a senior developer on Cyberpunk 2077, Sasko likely had the deciding vote on plenty of unused content.

"When the quality is not there, you can see that there's no way to bring it up to [the same quality of] the nine out of ten quests, or locations, or gameplay features," Sasko continued. "I think it's really important to remember this: if something is unused, this is done for a reason."

Cut content has been a subject on the tongue's of gamers for years, especially given the rise of dataminers, who will routinely delve into a game to find what they determine to be "cut content." A great example with Cyberpunk 2077 is a metro system, which was found in the game's files, and eventually enabled by modders after months of hard work.

Sasko clearly wants everyone to remember that "unused content" is left on the cutting room floor by design, not by accident. If dataminers do just happen to find what you might think is a fantastic features left in a game's files, bear in mind that it might not have been so fantastic from the perspective of the game's developers.

Recently for CD Projekt's RPG, the developer recently revealed Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is in the "final production phase," and we'll be hearing more about it later this year in June. These new comments from Sasko will be really important to keep in mind especially after the launch of the new DLC expansion at some point in the future. 

Here's why we want Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty to fill the LA Noire-shaped hole in our lives after all these years. 

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.