Did Cyberpunk Return to Mainstream? May 18, 2025

R. Talsorian Games, the publishers of the Tabletop Role Playing Game (TTRPG) Cyberpunk RED, which the video game Cyberpunk 2077 is based upon, were offering the Cyberpunk RED Core Rulebook (CR3001) and their Black Chrome expansion books on a discounted sale as part of a Spring 2025 promotion. The event was meant to take place over the course of several days, and RTG had high hopes they could make decent sales even at the offered discount. They quickly discovered the demand for their books were so high that all copies of BOTH books sold out in the first day. I’m not kidding, a PUBLISHER, which (theoretically) would have the largest stock of their books, sold EVERY copy of their book that they had in stock. Does this mean that a growing number of gamers are discovering (or rekindling) their interest in the Cyberpunk genre? Does that mean Cyberpunk is back?

I personally remember a time when characters wearing black leather trenchcoats, sunglasses, and a computer the size of your forearm was practically on the cover of every video game, comic book, and direct-to-video film. The Cyberpunk genre, originally created by author William Gibson for his legendary book Neuromancer, expected a future where corporations would take over but humans would find freedom interacting within advanced virtual computer systems, and the smartest among us would become the most capable of navigating the dangerous digital airwaves of the information superhighway. Some of the earliest Japanese anime to be imported to the west drew inspiration from it, including legendary films like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. It all culminated in the incredible 1999 film The Matrix. In that film, we learn that we are all living in a simulation, but our mental awareness of that simulation could grant us the power to break its rules and free humanity from their digital enslavement. After the release of the Matrix sequels in the early 00s, Cyberpunk got eclipsed when other genres such as Steampunk started to gain popularity by the late 00s to early 10s and games like Bioshock released to major critical fanfare. By 2012, new popular games were no longer embracing the cyberpunk style, and the future we saw depicted in major games looked more like the past.

I have been noticing over the past few months two major factors have been known: The first is that there was a huge interest in Cyberpunk media following the release of Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.1 update, and its Phantom Liberty expansion. Most people credit the release of this update and its expansion as the start of the time to finally give the game a look. The second was the 2022 release of the incredible Netflix miniseries Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which I would recommend ALL Netflix subscribers check out (and for non-Netflix people, a Blu-Ray Disc release for it is coming later this year). All of these projects have been critical and commercial successes and, in my opinion, that success has seen a demand for more media to be released for the genre.Personally, I felt that playing the game and watching the show made me NEED MORE CYBERPUNK in my life. And now it looks like it is happening.

The year is now 2025, and not only is Cyberpunk back, it appears that the pieces are in place to literally CREATE an actual Cyberpunk world! I wasn’t able to get my first PC until I was twelve, and while I was the only person in my family who was capable of using it properly, I had to share that computer with my family. Nowadays it’s impossible to find any someone of ANY age who does not at least possess a personal smartphone or tablet capable of internet access, interpersonal communication, media consumption, and video gaming…and with ten years of experience they know how to use it. We also have Virtual Reality headsets capable of operating without the need of being connected to a high-end PC or console, and while the current offerings on the market are considered “too bulky” for some, they are the top wanted item of most young gamers’ wish lists. I’ve also been enjoying new standalone VR games like Human Within and Ghost Town! A decade ago, you would never have imagined being able to play virtual reality games without the help of a PC, now it’s become so common nobody bats an eye about it. Last year, when I took my Vision Pro to an Apple Store for repairs, someone waiting for their iPhone to be fixed asked me if I could go [virtually] to Europe with it. I told them, “Of course I can, it’s 2024.”

Is there a downside to society’s transition into a cyberpunk reality? Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the Cyberpunk Tabletop RPG books, credited his main inspiration for the game from the Regan years during the 80s. It was a time when corporate regulations were dissolving, and while it meant an opportunity to create great amounts of wealth in the short term, it allowed companies to do whatever they wanted without legal consequences, and without consequences their concerns about human or environmental safety fell to the wayside. Now, it seems that society failed to heed his concerns, and we are now suffering from the same consequences he predicted for that ignorance. It will likely take another generation before we can figure out a way to resolve our environmental issues and heal the damage humanity has done to the planet, if it can be done at all.

This site will continue to investigate on the ongoing trends of gaming culture. RTG has promised they will be reprinting all books which have sold out, and will restock them as soon as they are able to. It is possible your local neighborhood tabletop shop, or their distributor, may still have copies of Cyberpunk RED for sale. However, I can personally attest the entire series of books have been pretty hard to find in my area even before the Spring 2025 sale, and my ability to even find the books on shelves was a combination of persistence and a bit of luck.