Cyberpunk Red: Status Report

Hello, all!

We’ve been saying for a while now that we were trying hard to get Cyberpunk RED out before the end of summer (summer in the United States, that is) but, given the current date, it is obvious we aren’t going to make that mark. Here’s the current status of the game.

1. The book is fully written. We’re going through a final round of editing now.
2. The project has grown somewhat over the last year and there’s a lot of new lore that needed extra verification (both with the original Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebooks and with the data from Cyberpunk 2077). We actually reached a point where we put a hard line on including new information because we could have kept going. Expect the Cyberpunk RED to be nearly twice the size of the Cyberpunk 2020 core book.
3. There’s a few pieces of art we’re still waiting on. Most of them involve illustrations for the three different fiction pieces that’ll be part of the book. In several cases we had to coordinate with CD Projekt Red on art because of shared characters.
4. Once we’ve finalized editing and layout, we’ll send the book off to our printer. The printing itself won’t take long but a large volume of hardcover books take a while to bind, especially when the printer already has a backlog they’re catching up on due to the pandemic.
5. We’re currently working with our printer and our distributors to shorten the time it takes to get from the printing press and the binding room to stores.
6. When we have more information, we’ll do our best to update everyone. Right now, we’re officially saying “when it is ready” for the book’s release because we don’t have enough information yet. We could give you a best guess but we don’t want that to go off again. We are working hard, within the limits of health and safety for our staff and freelancers, to get Cyberpunk RED out as soon as possible.

The question of “why not release it via digital channels as soon as it is ready” has come up before and probably will again. Here’s the answer:

This year hasn’t been kind to game retailers and distributors. We don’t kid ourselves that Cyberpunk RED will push anyone’s ledgers into the black by itself, but we want to give small businesses, many of whom stuck by us and kept selling our stuff when the world at large thought RTG was dead, as much of a fighting chance as we can. After all, we’re a small business ourselves. And yes, we’re aware some of the distributors and retailers who carry our stuff don’t fit the definition of “small business” but there’s many who do and that’s who we’re concerned about. The rest of the answer has to do with various market and business-related factors. This all may change if we feel circumstances warrant but, for right now, this is where we are on the matter.

We want to thank everyone who is excited about Cyberpunk RED, from newer gamers just discovering the world to older gamers who have been with us since the first black box set. We also want to thank you for your patience and your support. We’re looking forward to exploring the street of Night City with you in the Dark Futures of 2020, 2045, and 2077.

Stay safe in the streets.