CD Projekt has updated Cyberpunk 2077's PC system requirements ahead of the release of the hefty Phantom Liberty expansion.
Revealing the changes on Steam, CD Projekt Red said the changes are designed to be more up to date (given the expansion is launching nearly three years after the base game) and target a resolution output of either 1080p or 4k.
While the Phantom Liberty expansion is a paid DLC players don't need to buy, it will come alongside a significant patch to version 1.7 that overhauls a lot of the base game's mechanics and therefore means the PC version will become more demanding.
This is made clear in CD Projekt Red's decision to only support SSDs going forward. "One of the changes is the choice to stop supporting HDDs for the minimum requirements," it said. "SSDs offer faster loading times, improved streaming, and better overall performance when compared to HDDs."
CD Projekt Red made clear this doesn’t mean the game will stop working on the previous minimum requirements, but it will "discontinue active support for them and stop testing the game on those setups".
Instead of requiring a minimum Intel Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310 alongside 8GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 470 GPU, Cyberpunk 2077 will soon require a minimum Intel Core i7-6700 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 alongside 12GB of RAM and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580.
The recommended settings will require an Intel Core i7-12700 or AMD Ryzen 7 7800 alongside 16GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super or AMD Radeon RX 5700.
While Phantom Liberty is confirmed to launch on September 26, CD Projekt Red hasn't given a specific release date for version 1.7 itself, though confirmed it will come no earlier than September 9.
"The changes to the minimum requirements are a reflection of our new standard of requirements, which we believe better represent the minimum PC configuration required to run the game at 1080p, while maintaining an average of 30 FPS at low preset," CD Projekt Red said.
"The reason for making these changes is that updating the requirements is an important part of the game improvement process, and of enhancing and adding new features."
Phantom Liberty's release date and a new trailer was shared during the Xbox Games Showcase on June 11, which is just one part of a much larger Summer of Gaming.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.