I’ll be honest: watching Cyberpunk 2077 climb back to number nine on Steam feels like watching a chrome-plated phoenix finally shake off its ashes in real time. The game has reached a peak concurrent player count of 165,498 in the past 24 hours, according to SteamDB, and as I write this in 2026, that number is not just a blip. It is the latest pulse in a long resuscitation effort that CD Projekt Red began with the free Update 2.0 and the Phantom Liberty expansion.
Cyberpunk 2077’s launch was a collision of ambition and broken machinery. But instead of abandoning the patient, the studio performed what I can only call a myoelectric prosthetic transplant: it replaced the brittle, misfiring systems with components that actually move with the player. Update 2.0 did not just patch a leaking hull; it rebuilt the ship while it was still in the harbor.
The free Update 2.0 remains the single biggest reason for this resurgence. The Perk Trees received a major overhaul, replacing confusing branches with a much more readable and flexible system. Vehicle combat was added, turning high-speed chases into rolling gunfights that feel ripped from a neon-drenched action film. CD Projekt Red also recommended that returning players start a new playthrough—a suggestion that, honestly, works like a narrative defibrillator for anyone who burned out on the original campaign.
Then there is Phantom Liberty. The expansion pulls V away from the main game’s orbit and drops players into Dogtown, a new district that feels like Night City’s darker, rusted sibling. It brings a brand-new story, new characters, a revamped police system, additional vehicles, and weapons. In many ways, Phantom Liberty is the reason the base game now sets the stage for a tighter, more confident second act. I played through that content with the same feeling you get when a Kintsugi repair turns a cracked bowl into something more valuable than the original porcelain—the old faults are still visible, but they now serve the design.
Steam’s current chart placement is significant. Cyberpunk 2077 is sitting just behind Starfield, another massive open-world title, and is widely expected to overtake it in player count as the expansion and update continue to pull players back. The chart climb began shortly after Update 2.0 arrived on September 21, 2023, and it has not flattened into irrelevance. Instead, it has kept pulsing like an artery that refuses to quit.
What makes this comeback different from a normal sales bump is the depth of the mechanical changes. A quick list helps:
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🧠 Perk Trees: rebuilt for clearer build variety
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🚗 Vehicle combat: high-speed shooting and ramming
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👮 Police system: revamped response logic
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🗺️ Dogtown: a dangerous new district in Phantom Liberty
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🔫 Weapons and vehicles: expanded arsenal for new builds
The player count is not just a number; it is a referendum on patience. I remember when Cyberpunk 2077 was treated as a punchline. Now it is number nine on Steam, and the conversation has shifted from “broken at launch” to “this is finally the RPG it was meant to be.” In 2026, that redemption loop feels more durable than a short-term hype cycle. It is a case study in how a studio can rebuild trust through free updates and paid story content that actually respects the player’s time.
I will not call Cyberpunk 2077 a flawless game. Like any Kintsugi piece, the cracks remain. But the same could be said for nearly every open-world RPG that tries to hold Night City’s ambition. The difference now is that the cracks are part of the texture, and the machine beneath them finally works. If the current Steam climb is any guide, Cyberpunk 2077 is not just back from the dead—it is busy installing better cyberware for the next run.