“Cyberpunk 2077” developer CD Projekt Red has asked players of the title to please refrain from hooking up with Keanu Reeves’ likeness.
One of the few versions of the high-profile sci-fi video game that has been working correctly (mostly) has been the title’s PC version. Reeves also has a key role as the character of Johnny Silverhand in the game, lending not just his voice but his physical likeness to the character.
Whilst the player cannot engage in sexual activity with Silverhand, you can with other characters. Recently, fan-made mods have begun to appear online which swap out some character models and thus allow players to get it on with Reeves’ character.
As Reeves look is of an actual person instead of a character creation, the developer tells PC Gamer that rules are a bit different and so they take a different stance towards it than other mods:
Our most important rule regarding user-generated content, game mods in particular, is that it can’t be harmful towards others. In the case of model swaps, especially those that involve explicit situations, it can be perceived as such by the people who lent us their appearance for the purpose of creating characters in Cyberpunk 2077.
Therefore, when making fan content, creators have to make sure they’ve got permission from all the concerned parties (which might be people other than CD PROJEKT RED). For the characters we’ve invented for the game, we broadly permit you to tweak the game at will and just have fun.
When it comes to models of real people whom we’ve asked to participate in the game, we kindly ask you to refrain from using them in any situation that might be found offensive if you don’t have their explicit permission.
Mods are now commonplace among games, especially larger AAA titles where major changes are done to almost every part of a video game. CD Projekt Red’s previous major release, “The Witcher 3,” remains one of the most modded games out there.
However CD Projekt Red has its own issues to worry about as they continue to deal with the fallout over the various problems with “Cyberpunk 2077” and are working on updates to try and improve it over time.