CDPR vet reflects on a classic RPG problem: The stats-over-fashion "clown meta" in Cyberpunk 2077, which lots of players hated but almost nobody knew how to fix

The developer-player relationship can sometimes have a parental quality to it, with fans being prone to tantrums without knowing what would soothe them. At least, that's been the experience for one Cyberpunk 2077 developer, who says fans are good at identifying problems, but not solutions - especially when it pertains to something he calls the game's "clown meta." 

"Players, in most cases, can quite well say 'what I don't like' [...], but they often won't be able to tell you exactly how to fix it," said CD Projekt Red associate game director Pawel Sasko on a recent episode of Flow Games, a Brazilian podcast. "Great example, I think, it's the one that always makes me laugh: the clown fiesta in Cyberpunk 2077. You know, the clown meta.

"Because of the fact that clothing had armor assigned to it, then, suddenly, you run around with, like, pink boots and a bra, and high heels in a cowboy hat, because that has the biggest armor," Sasko continued. "That simple decision to tie up the armor with the clothing [...] led to the creation of the clown meta, that everyone looked like…just, ridiculous." 

Before 2023's Cyberpunk 2077 patch 2.0, which reduced clothing mostly to cosmetics by linking armor to cyberware upgrades instead, players were frustrated by situations that made them realize their booty shorts had better stats than their glitter pants.

"People kept saying that [...] they want to wear what they want to wear. For me, that's an actual problem. But, then, the solutions that players were bringing up were really varied," Sasko said. So, in addressing concerns, Sasko said he focused on what players wanted to change rather than how they preferred to change it.

"I would say probably 80 percent, maybe more [of Cyberpunk 2077 updates] were literally coming from players' feedback," Sasko said. "It's very hard to defend the opinion that developers don't look at players' feedback in the case of Cyberpunk." 

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