No, Cyberpunk 2077 didn't "remove" the Elon Musk NPC because he wasn't even in the game to begin with
"Who came up with this nonsense?"
A CD Projekt Red developer has finally quashed the rumour that an NPC based upon Elon Musk was in the game at all, let alone recently removed.
After a tweet purporting that CD Projekt had "removed the Elon Musk cameo from the Corpo opening in Cyberpunk 2077" went viral, senior quest designer Patrick Mills stepped in to ask, "who came up with this nonsense?".
"That wasn't Elon musk, it looks nothing like him. Who came up with this nonsense?" Mills asked.
"It's funny, 'cause I have Elon's name on my mute list I can't even see the replies to my tweet," Mills added later. "No big loss, I'm sure, but behave in there, kids. (Throw a wild party, chooms)."
When asked if a recent story about Musk bursting into the studio and demanding a part by brandishing a 200-year-old gun was true, Mills said: "I wasn't there, I don't know.
"But even if that's true, that doesn't mean this random Japanese guy is supposed to be him."
Cyberpunk 2077's highly-anticipated paid expansion is right around the corner, but its free 2.0 update is already here.
As Matt summarised for us at the time, Cyberpunk 2.0 aims to address some of the criticism levied at the game since its controversial launch at the tail-end of 2020, promising completely redesigned skill trees and perks, revamped cyberware, a new capacity system, vehicle combat and car chases, combat AI improvements, and a new police system. It also brings changes to loot, items, and crafting, as well as UI and UX improvements, and a new selection of radio stations.