Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen ugrade to use ‘all new functions and technical possibilities’ of PS5 and Xbox Series X

Cyberpunk 2077 is one of, if not the biggest video game releases of the year; despite developer CD Projekt Red’s ambitious, futuristic, open-world RPG shattering Steam and Twitch.tv records, it hasn’t been without its fair share of glitches and bugs from the get-go.

Though the Day One console update and the more recent Update 1.04 hotfix should have rectified a good portion of the more conspicuous bugs found in the game thus far, what about the Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen upgrade/update for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles? Will the technical capabilities of the new consoles truly provide a smoother, more polished experience for a players’ exploits in Night City and beyond?

CD Projekt Red

In a recent video interview with Bloomberg TV, CDPR co-founder Marcin Iwiński touched upon the free Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen upgrade.

“So, right now the game works in back compat, and it works very well,” said Iwinski. “The consoles are much faster. And then, we’re planning a free next-gen update for everyone who’s got a next-gen console. So, if you buy the game now, you can play it on next-gen. It works great because of the higher capabilities of the new consoles. But then, with the next-gen update, we’ll use all the functionalities or the new functions and technical possibilities provided by the new platforms.” (For a comparison of Cyberpunk 2077 on the PS4 and Xbox One compared to the backwards compatibility mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, check out this video from Digital Foundry.)

CDPR cited the main reasons for the second Cyberpunk 2077 delay as wanting to give the game enough extra polish to garner a 90+ rating on Metacritic as well as the optimization of the game for the PS4 and Xbox One consoles, of which the latter factor leads us to believe that the game should be a far more enjoyable, visually impressive and less bug-laden experience on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles than it has been on the PS4 and Xbox One.

Interestingly enough, CDPR CEO Adam Kicinski seemed prescient in the fact that Cyberpunk 2077 for last generation’s consoles would be more frustrating and predicated that such problems could be ameliorated in the future by making future CDPR games only available for the PS5 and Xbox One consoles.

“[T]argeting future releases – probably – just for next-gen will help a lot,” Kicinski said. “We are releasing a game which is, to be honest, a next-gen game, and we’re preparing it for fairly old machines, which poses certain unique challenges that won’t occur in future projects – at least in the next one.”

CD Projekt Red

The free Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen upgrade/update hasn’t been given an official release date as of yet, but has been a tentative one for sometime in 2021. We’ll keep you updated as more information on the Cyberpunk 2077 next-gen upgrade/update becomes available.

For those of you still experiencing blurry graphics in Cyberpunk 2077 for the PS4, Xbox One and PC even after the patch updates/hotfix there are settings changes and tweaks you can make to clear up the problems.