Twitch Streamers Are In An Uproar Over Cyberpunk 2077

CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 has landed in spectacular fashion, setting a record on Steam for the most concurrent players. While the game seems to be living up to the hype in many regards, some oversights in the DMCA-avoiding streamer mode has left some content creators vulnerable to takedown notices.

Cyberpunk 2077's special "streamer mode" was an innovative solution to a common problem for streamers that muted copyrighted music while leaving all other in-game sounds intact to keep content creators out of legal trouble with the RIAA. Any instance of copyrighted music that appears on a Twitch stream, whether it originates from the streamer playing music or from the game itself, can put streamers at risk. The consequences can range from the automatic deletion of recorded stream archives to a DMCA strike against the entire channel. Either of these, if they occur repeatedly, can even result in a ban from Twitch.

Cyberpunk 2077's official Twitter feed confirmed that specific segments of the game, particularly some during the first two braindance sequences, contained music not blocked by streamer mode. CD Projekt Red promised a fix and asked streamers to turn off all sound during that portion of the game. However, within a couple of hours, a follow-up tweet acknowledged other areas of the game that featured copyrighted music slipping past the notice of streamer mode. CD Projekt Red reaffirmed its commitment to resolving the issue, but until that time advised streamers to mute all music.

Previous advice to simply mute all music coming from Twitch has been met with incredulous responses from streamers, whose work is jeopardized by content included by game creators. This oversight in streamer mode has contributed another page in the story of Cyberpunk 2077's uneven rollout. While the game has received critical praise for delivering its promise of an immersive, futuristic open world, bugs and other issues have led to some lukewarm reactions from influential sources and a day zero patch for the game.

The copyrighted music playing during the braindance sequences also brings more negative attention to these particular scenes from the game. Game Informer associate editor Liana Ruppert reported suffering a grand mal seizure while playing through a braindance segment and advised any players vulnerable to epileptic incidents to avoid those portions of the game entirely.

Commenters on Twitter were quick to point out that The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red's last high profile release, also suffered from a problematic launch. CD Projekt Red seems committed to solving any lingering issues, although fans are still upset to find Cyberpunk 2077 in this state after nearly a year of delays.