Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty “All In”
CD Projekt Red
Cyberpunk 2077 was a true gaming phenomenon. Phantom Liberty, the massive DLC update which made the world of Night City bigger, richer, and even more alive, promised to take the franchise to an entirely new level. CD Projekt Red needed the launch of the expansion to feel just as big as the game itself.
Awards
Golden Trailer Award
Best Video Game Trailer
We're All In
The Insight
When the base game came out, it was hugely popular and wildly successful - but it was also a divisive product for many players, especially those playing on sub-state-of-the-art hardware. So, the creative team knew that they needed to highlight how the expansion deepened the aspects of the base game that everyone loved - the intoxicatingly fully-realized future-noir setting, the meaningful choices that players could make to decide how the drama would play out, the no-holding-back buy-in from big-name stars. But it also needed to communicate subtly yet clearly to fans who’d had a sub-optimal experience with the game in the past that CDPR had been listening. The world needed to know the game was fixed.
The Execution
Set in a Night City Bar, the spot featured Idris Elba teasing audiences with tantalizing language about rigged games, unfair hands, and going all in. The spot centered on a noir monologue built around "the game is fixed" as both metaphor and message. MDRN Logic handled all post production, VFX, Design, and Animation, including flawlessly weaving game assets into the final footage. All of this footage was captured, tracked, and matched in a manner which allowed us to work closely with CDPR to bridge the gap between the world of the film and the world of the spot.
The Results
Within a week of release, Phantom Liberty had sold over 3 million units - and almost 3 years later, by October of 2025, that number was up to 10 million. The trailer itself was widely celebrated, even taking home Best Video Game Trailer at the Golden Trailer Awards. But the biggest success metric was the overwhelming outpouring of support from players who praised Phantom Liberty as delivering on the full potential of the Cyberpunk 2077 project. The game, as it turns out, really was fixed.