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Is Cyberpunk 2077’s Streamer-Friendly Mode A Compromise On The Overall Experience?

Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red has announced a streamer-friendly mode in their upcoming release, Cyberpunk 2077. This is a mode that you can toggle on in the game so that, as a streamer, your content won’t be claimed by copyright holders. It’s a step that the developer is clearly taking in order to avoid streamers choosing to avoid streaming their game. It will also make the lives of YouTubers much easier because they won’t need to worry about only recording certain sections of a game in order to avoid their videos being claimed as well. However, I think it could be a step too far for the industry, and compromise the game’s overall experience.

I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with the concept of Cyberpunk 2077, or any game, having a streamer-friendly mode. It makes sense in many cases. Developers and publishers do see sales from their games being streamed, and from videos of those games going viral. It’s only the people putting money into creating those videos who miss out when one is claimed by a copyright holder. Seeing everyone get paid for their effort is definitely a good thing, I just don’t think it works for those who want the full experience.

What I mean here is that the developers chose a set of music, as well as who knows what else that could be claimed, and now that won’t be appearing in the version of the game that people watch online. I don’t know about you, but I love seeing a video of a game with an absolutely banging audio track to go along with it. Sometimes the music makes the best moments of a game. My worry is that these streamers and YouTubers won’t get the full experience of the game because they’re playing the streamer-friendly version, which is, by definition, not the full version of the game.

My hope is that CD Projekt Red has sourced music to replace the tracks they need to remove. If not, I can imagine that there will be some very dull moments in the game that would otherwise have been made epic by the music that played along with them.