I still remember booting up Cyberpunk 2077's Corpo prologue in 2020 and doing a double-take at a background NPC. Was that... Elon Musk? The resemblance was uncanny, and the internet certainly thought so. But by the time Update 2.0 rolled around, that mysterious suit-and-shades figure had been quietly replaced. No patch note. No official statement. Just a different character with a shiny vest, white fingerless gloves, sunglasses, and a short pompadour. As a longtime Night City resident, I couldn't help but ask: if it was never a cameo, why erase it at all?

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The story behind this bizarre NPC swap is part rumor, part coincidence, and part controversy. Let's rewind. In 2019, after Musk unveiled the Cybertruck, the official Cyberpunk 2077 account tweeted, 'We had a deal, Elon.' Musk replied, 'See you in 2077.' For fans, that felt like a promise. When the game launched in 2020, players combed every corner of Night City for a Musk cameo. They found a corpo opening sequence NPC who looked suspiciously like him. CD Projekt Red later confirmed it was just a coincidence and that Musk was not in the game.

But in 2023, Update 2.0 changed things. Players noticed the Musk-like NPC was gone, replaced by a completely different character. CDPR never acknowledged it in patch notes. That silence is louder than any tweet. Was it a legal cleanup? A response to Musk's own claims? Or just an artist updating an old asset? I honestly can't say for sure, but the timing is hard to ignore.

Here's where the controversy deepens. Musk's ex-wife, Grimes, voices Lizzy Wizzy in Cyberpunk 2077. According to reports, Musk allegedly showed up at one of her recording sessions with a two-hundred-year-old gun, jokingly said, 'I'm armed but not dangerous,' and asked for a cameo. Musk later said CD Projekt Red 'relented.' That story, if true, paints a very different picture from CDPR's official 'no cameo' line. So when Update 2.0 removed the lookalike, fans naturally connected dots. Did CDPR decide the association was more trouble than it was worth?

Let's be clear: I love Cyberpunk 2077. I've played through it multiple times, and Night City remains one of the most immersive open worlds ever built. The game has received massive overhauls, from Update 2.0's redesigned perk trees and police system to the Phantom Liberty expansion. In 2026, it's still a benchmark for RPG storytelling and urban atmosphere. But this tiny NPC change is a fascinating meta-narrative. Night City is a place where corporations erase people, rewrite history, and sell you a new face. Isn't it oddly perfect that a real-world billionaire's digital ghost might have been quietly edited out of the code?

Let's break down the timeline:

Year Event
2019 CDPR tweets 'We had a deal, Elon'; Musk replies 'See you in 2077'
2020 Cyberpunk 2077 launches; fans spot Musk-like NPC in Corpo prologue
2021–2022 CDPR confirms no Musk cameo; game gets major patches
2023 Update 2.0 removes the lookalike NPC; replacement appears
2024–2026 CDPR still hasn't officially explained the removal; fans keep debating

What do I think? I think the removal was likely a deliberate, low-key decision. If CDPR wanted to avoid any implied endorsement or association with Musk, quietly swapping an asset is the cleanest way. It avoids giving him more attention. It also prevents future legal or PR headaches. But there's another possibility: the original NPC was never meant to be Musk, and CDPR simply updated a generic character model during a massive overhaul. Update 2.0 touched almost everything, so why not a random corpo extra?

Still, the ambiguity is the point. In a game about corporate control and digital identity, a real-world tech mogul's maybe-cameo becoming a deleted memory is almost too on-the-nose. It's the kind of story that makes Cyberpunk 2077 feel less like fiction and more like a mirror. And as a player, I find that both hilarious and a little unsettling.

So, what's the takeaway for my fellow chooms? Don't trust every lookalike. Don't expect every promise to be kept. And don't assume patch notes tell the whole story. Night City has always been a place where the truth is whatever the highest bidder says it is. If a billionaire can be edited out of a video game without a single official word, what else can be rewritten? Maybe that's the real cyberpunk nightmare.

For now, I'll keep playing. I'll keep exploring. And I'll keep wondering: if CDPR ever makes Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, will we see another Musk-like NPC? Or has Night City already learned its lesson? 🎮