Cyberpunk 2077 has arrived! Gamers all over the world are downloading the highly-anticipated game directly to their consciousness – er, consoles – and many are excited to dive into the seedy neon lights of Night City to experience a game eight years in the making.
Lots of fans have read the reviews and over 100,000 people tuned in to watch Michael ‘Shroud’ Grzesiek stream the game. For the biggest streamers though, there are fears that their early access streams could lead to more problems than they were worth.
The Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account confirmed that a song in the game had slipped through their rigorous checks, and would play its copyrighted melody “even when playing with ‘Disable Copyrighted Music’ option on.” This music, played during the braindance sequences, could result in a DMCA strike for streamers playing the game. Currently, the only suggested fix is muting your stream during these parts of the game.
This is not the first time the braindance sequences have come under fire, as the flashing lights were found to trigger seizures for some players. CD Projekt Red has since added a warning to the beginning of the game.
We just noticed there's a song in the game which might put a DMCA strike on your channel even when playing with “Disable Copyrighted Music” option on. While we work on fixing it, please make sure to turn the sound off during the first two Braindance sequences. Apologies! pic.twitter.com/yfP6Tbdta0
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 9, 2020
However, that’s not the only part of Cyberpunk 2077 that could result in bans – the game has more suggestive content than your average title, starting from the character creator. We noticed that many streamers were oversizing their Cyberjunks, but dwelling on the fully nude V could potentially breach Twitch’s terms of service.
The community guidelines state that in games that are not prohibited by Twitch, such as Cyberpunk 2077, nudity is permissible so long as it is part of the game’s progression. “When interacting with in-game nudity or sexual content in a permitted game, users may only spend as much time as is required to progress,” it reads.
On Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel’s playthrough, he follows a story mission that takes V to a red light district of Night City. However, while exploring, he engages in some extracurricular activities. The first instance is apparently a mistake, but xQc then pays a second sex worker for their services, streaming an X-rated montage to his viewers – twice. You can see the first instance in the clip below.
Perhaps perusing the different genital sizes will be considered “required to progress” – it is a character creator, after all – but spending too long dwelling on the nether regions or propping up Night City’s sex work industry could be a problem for streamers, and we could see bans in the coming days.
The streamer in question, xQc, has been banned twice before for showing explicit content, so he is walking a particularly dangerous tightrope, but between DMCA strikes and potential nudity bans, all streamers are taking a risk by playing Cyberpunk 2077.