So a woman who has worked in the industry for several years (I've only really seen her in Funhaus content, but I know she had a career at IGN before that), who has connections in the industry, is happy to share that she's one of a handful of guest appearances in CP2077, and this went on for 6 pages...why?
This isn't a sign of CDPR bending over backwards to shoehorn in an agenda, it's literally just a fun little addition to the game for her, for CDPR, for her friends and followers, and it literally doesn't detract from anyone else's experience in any way. Seriously, I know this is a video game forum, but do we really need to be reminded that it's just a video game?
I understand why people dislike it. It's literally tacky. It's like putting something out of time into a game. It's not "cool", it just cringe. I could handle dealing with a Keanu, especially considering his appearances in sci-fi movies, but dealing with all low-name "celebrities" being put in just makes me feel that the care for the experience is not as much prioritized.
I don't think it has much to do about an agenda as it is about how artistically broken a large part of the industry has become due to marketing creeping further and further into games, rather than the other way around. For crowdfunded projects it's understandable, trying to levy rewards and luckily it's common people (though I guess
EviLore
in Pillars of Eternity is stretching "common people" a bit and would be more in line with streamers getting added, though that was still not driven by a game's marketing or attempt at networking, but merely due to donating at the correct reward level).
Like why are we getting these people put into Cyberpunk? What function do they serve? Was it due to connections? Was it part of marketing? Did Jessie Cox save the life of some of these guys as to justify his inclusion?
Really, as if Kojima putting himself in his own game isn't enough, we have to deal with various people being put in "just because"? I really don't like this trend, especially in games that I feel like try to sell an experience. At least games like WoW have little of any seriousness and is all around based around comedy and pop culture references, so the banality of adding real people have long been established and it's not really a hardcore fantasy experience.
This all just reminds me of the relationship between game development companies and various marketing outlets (streamers, games media), giving me a sour taste in my mouth as it is a taste of the future. Imagine Bethesda putting Pewdiepie in the next TES, I would be upset and I actually like Pewdiepie.
It's a video game forum, meaning we discuss video games, as we are doing in this thread. I personally do not want to see a wide arrange of e-celebrities being put into immersive sims. That's my opinion. Now yours may differ, but that's my concern and why I spent time writing this.