Following a general statement from R. Talsorian Games, Cyberpunk Red creator Mike Pondsmith has expanded upon his original admonition that “Cyberpunk was a warning, not an aspiration,” adding that police brutality is a fight for us all.
“If you think police brutality isn’t going to get to you, you’d better reconsider,” a portion of Pondsmith’s statement reads. “Because the flip side of that devil’s deal is that any of us can be lumped into the groups that the people in power want to keep control of. They aren’t your cops; they’re the people in power’s cops.”
As outlined in R. Talsorian Games’ previous post, Pondsmith then warns that a future that plays out in his Cyberpunk franchise is not one we should be striving for.
“When I wrote Cyberpunk many years ago, I meant it as a warning, not an aspiration. Of what happens when Power, Money, and Ruthlessness combine. Of what happens when the America you think you know morphs into a tyrannical state that combines the worst of corporate excess with the worst of authoritarian tendencies,” he continued.
“We’re speeding on the way towards that Dark Future right now, and the color of your skin, or the money in your bank account are not going to spare you. It’s time to wake up; to face down the people who want in the end, to enslave all of us.”
In addition to setting four goals to combat police brutality, Pondsmith also confirmed that R. Talsorian Games has partnered with DriveThruRPG to raise funds for the National Police Accountability Project.
Cyberpunk Red is available now. CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled for a 17 September release on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4. A Stadia release will follow where available in 2020; a next-gen release on Xbox Series X and PS5 is planned for 2021.
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