Since the launch of "Cyberpunk 2077," a common perception has been that the game's frequent elevator rides were a transitional device designed to mask background loading times. Recently, a core developer at CD Projekt Red personally stepped forward to clarify this point, emphasizing that the claim is a complete misunderstanding and stating outright that the game's technical architecture simply doesn't rely on such "hidden loading" designs.
Igor Sarzynski, who serves as Creative Director for "Cyberpunk 2" and Cinematic Director for "Cyberpunk 2077," recently took to social media to address these rumors. He questioned why, if players can traverse the entirety of Night City and freely enter massive, complex indoor spaces without any loading screens, the game would then need an elevator to load a single penthouse apartment.
He further stated that elevators exist because they are "logical" within the game's world-building and flow design, even adding that if the team wanted to, the elevators could have been designed to be transparent.
Sarzynski also highly praised the REDengine used in the game, describing it as a "miraculous engine." In Night City, with its flashing neon lights and dense NPC activity, players can move almost continuously between various areas, demonstrating the engine's high level of maturity in scene streaming and performance management. This makes the "elevators are hidden loading screens" argument difficult to sustain.
However, the reason such speculation circulated partly reflects players' past experiences, as many previous AAA titles have indeed utilized narrow passages, moving platforms, or enclosed spaces as loading buffers. Thus, elevators naturally became a suspected culprit. Nevertheless, Sarzynski's statement is seen as a strong endorsement of "Cyberpunk 2077"'s seamless design.
Furthermore, the development lead, who is also responsible for "The Witcher 4" and "Cyberpunk 2," recently expressed reservations about whether AI could replace talent in the gaming industry. He emphasized that even the most advanced technology cannot create the next "Witcher" series title solely through algorithms. For CD Projekt Red, technology remains merely a tool; the true core lies with the creators themselves.