Cyberpunk 2077 May Have Grand Theft Auto Beat

Lately, video game developers have entered into an unspoken agreement to take up as much of your time as possible. If a game doesn't offer an ever-changing catalogue of new missions and content, it provides an explorable digital landmass quickly approaching (and in some cases surpassing) the size of Rhode Island. According to one theory, Cyberpunk 2077 might fall into the latter category. More importantly, it might hold some of its competition at gunpoint.

YouTuber EdgeRunner Cold believes Cyberpunk 2077's entire game takes up 225 square kilometers (approximately 86.87 square miles). Comparatively, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — CD Projekt Red's previous title — spans 136 square km, while Grand Theft Auto 5's Los Santos only clocks in at roughly 81 square km of explorable landmass. At first glance, this seems at odds with CD Projekt Red's previous claim that Cyberpunk 2077 will be shorter than The Witcher 3, but that statement only applies to campaign length. Game world size is a completely different metric.

You might wonder how EdgeRunner Cold reached his conclusion, especially since CD Projekt Red has declared a digital crusade on anyone who dares spoil the upcoming title. Thankfully, EdgeRunner's methods only combined public information, a bit of detective work, and cartography.

EdgeRunner Cold first picked up the trail when CD Projekt Red released the Cyberpunk 2077 photo mode trailer. Throughout the video, a bunch of numbers appear at the top of the screen. They aren't random numbers that are placed on UIs to seem more futuristic though: they're coordinates. With this in mind, EdgeRunner kept an eye out for known landmarks, such as the Arasaka Offices and Judy's Braindance suite, and used those to create points on a blank map. Then, he had a not-so-simple task of overlaying that map on top of the map of Night City, which led EdgeRunner to his final conclusion that Cyberpunk 2077 will span 225 square km.

Assuming EdgeRunner is correct, Cyberpunk 2077 will be about as large as DayZ, but not quite as big as Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (which cheats thanks to its miles of open water). However, Cyberpunk 2077's predicted digital footprint is a bit deceptive since it includes the wasteland outside of Night City proper, but not the game's verticality. Moreover, the game's lore actually states that the city itself only takes up a total of 75.42 square km. Whatever the case, it seems that Cyberpunk 2077 definitely has the edge over any map produced by the mega-popular Grand Theft Auto series.

Fans won't know if EdgeRunner's prediction is accurate until Cyberpunk 2077 launches on Dec. 10 for the PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Stadia.