Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty May Have Broken One Of The Most Immersive Elements

Summary Cyberpunk's 2.0 update broke radio DJs in Night City, affecting player immersion significantly.

Radio hosts in Cyberpunk added personality to Night City, acknowledged player actions, and gave the game the feeling of a living world.

Potential fixes for missing radio hosts include turning on copyrighted music, skipping ahead to the Phantom Liberty DLC, or even reinstalling the game.

Although the double whammy of Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty DLC may have solved a lot of problems, it also seems to have broken one of the most immersive aspects of life in Night City. While Phantom Liberty undeniably brought big changes to Cyberpunk, the 2.0 update was arguably far more significant. Released as a free patch just a few days before the DLC, Phantom Liberty greatly changed the ways progression, customization, and even vehicular combat worked. A huge upgrade worthy of its own integer, Cyberpunk 2.0 offers a much more complete game than its original release.

But Cyberpunk still isn't without its mysteries and bugs, and one of them may have even been made worse by the 2.0 update. And this is nothing as simple as a T-posing NPC or a missing texture; it appears to have done away with one of the most interesting worldbuilding features included in Cyberpunk 2077. Fixes aren't forthcoming.

Related A Confusing Cyberpunk 2077 Mechanic Would Be A Great Addition To The Sequel The inclusion of one confusing Cyberpunk 2077 mechanic could actually enhance its sequel, Project Orion, if CD Projekt Red were to build upon it.

Cyberpunk 2.0 Seems To Have Broken Radio DJs

No More Maximum Mike?

Close

According to a Reddit post by user 4lk4n4l4d4, radio DJs don't seem to work anymore as of Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 update. Some stations had devoted hosts, while others would simply play news and gossip updates from Stanley Media. They'd come on the air in between every few songs, working just like their counterparts in the Grand Theft Auto and Fallout series. However, many players have reported that they don't seem to appear anymore as of the recent updates. Some say they haven't heard them at all, while others say they still show up occasionally - just much less frequently.

However, Cyberpunk's radio hosts were even more immersive because they seemed to be aware of the player's actions. They'd report on the outcomes of most of the main story missions, paralleling V's journey from nobody to hero of the streets: near the beginning, radio hosts might report on their bigger jobs as interesting news tidbits perpetrated by an unknown up-and-comer. By the end of the game, they'd be following V's every move like a celebrity. This helped make Cyberpunk feel like a living world, as the radio hosts directly acknowledged how the player's actions altered the face of Night City.

Besides that, Cyberpunk's radio hosts just lent Night City a lot of personality. Two stations had dedicated DJs in previous versions of the game: Maximum Mike on Morro Rock Radio, and Ash on Growl FM. They each had their own interests and news beats: Mike loved delving into corporate intrigue and conspiracy theories, while Ash would get deep into more esoteric concepts like fate and predetermination. In short, they were characters, minor as they may have been. They brought a little bit of humanity to a city that's actively hostile to most forms of joy.

Maximum Mike, the host of Morro Rock Radio, is voiced by Cyberpunk's creator, Mike Pondsmith.

This appears to be a bug; although it hasn't been confirmed by CD Projekt Red, there's nothing to suggest the radio hosts were removed intentionally. In the Reddit post above, 4lk4n4l4d4 goes on to clarify that they occasionally still hear Ash on Growl FM, but she makes the same exact comments every time. Other players report they still see the subtitles attached to the DJs' interludes, but can't hear the audio.

Related One Depressing Johnny Silverhand Detail Gets Resolved, But Not In Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty The fate of a major Cyberpunk 2077 character was always a mystery - but solutions come from an unexpected source. Here’s what it implies for the lore.

Potential Fixes For Cyberpunk's Broken Radio Hosts

Copyright Issues, Phantom Liberty, Or A Full Reinstall?

Custom Image by Glenn Bunn

In several comments made on the Reddit post above, players suggest fixes to the missing radio hosts. Some say turning copyrighted music back on could restore the DJs' interludes. This seems to work for some people; it's possible the talk segments contain copyrighted background music, or were accidentally flagged as such in the 2.0 update. However, in an edit, the original poster claims to have tried this, but to no avail.

The relevant setting is found near the very bottom of Cyberpunk's audio options, and is called "Disable copyrighted music."

In a Steam community form post linked in the Reddit post by 4lk4n4l4d4, another player claims that skipping to Phantom Liberty could also resolve the issue. However, this isn't a universal solution. For one thing, it requires starting a new game, which is a hard sell for players who have already invested more than a few hours in their Cyberpunk playthroughs. Even first-time players may not want to skip ahead to the DLC, if they've even bought it yet.

Finally, still others suggest that reinstalling Cyberpunk entirely could bring back the missing hosts. This is the nuclear option, and considering Cyberpunk's relatively large file size, could take a while. But if players have tried everything else without any luck, it's worth a shot. Even so, it doesn't work in every single case.

So, radio DJs seem to be completely absent from the new version of the game, new patches have failed to address it, and there's no reliable player-side fix. Ultimately, the only way to resolve this is with a patch, but there's been no acknowledgment of the issue from CD Projekt Red. Until there is, radio DJs will just remain missing from some players' Cyberpunk 2077 saves.

Sources: 4lk4n4l4d4, Steam