Cyberpunk 2077's New Crowd AI Was Deemed Too Powerful to Release on Last-Gen Consoles
We're used to seeing next-gen console upgrades that improve visual fidelity or framerates, but it's so far been rare to see next-gen only features that centre around AI. However, one update to Cyberpunk 2077's NPCs was deemed too demanding to bring to PS4 and Xbox One.
Cyberpunk 2077's latest 1.5 patch came with many, many changes for all available platforms – but one next-gen only feature caught the eye. Covered in yesterday's Cyberpunk announcement stream, CD Projekt Red announced that the game's crowd reactions had been improved, both for pedestrians and vehicles.
The changes mean that crowds in the game will now react more realistically to your aggressive actions, with NPCs fighting back, running away, or even fighting each other. "It brings up a bit more reactivity and life to the city," said quest director Paweł Sasko. "The fact that some of the people are actually armed, and they may decide to attack you at the moment when you threaten them in some ways." In cars, similar reactions can take place, with what the team calls "panic driving".
The drawback here is that the change could seemingly only be made on PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, and Stadia – with PS4 and Xbox One versions seemingly retaining the original AI.
Speaking to IGN, CD Projekt Red global PR director Radek Grabowski explained that decision, effectively saying that the update to AI was too demanding for the older hardware:
"I can say that with the changes and additions being made via updates to Cyberpunk 2077’s core, the game, which was already technically complex, is becoming more and more so. This growing complexity requires more resources — such as faster internal storage, or more memory of which there is typically a finite amount on consoles. With this in
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