The 1.04 patch by Cyberpunk 2077 makes improvements to reduce the risk of epilepsy

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red (CDPR) is rolling out a game update that may decrease the risk for epileptic effects to be caused by specific sequences. Earlier this week, Game Informer editor Liana Ruppert brought to light the dangers of seizures. The 1.04 hotfix is currently live on PC and PlayStation consoles, and CDPR is working on Xbox to get the upgrade “as soon as possible.”

CDPR says the way its “braindance” sequences look has improved. There is a device put in front of your character’s eyes during these scenes that flashes red and white lights. According to Ruppert, who claimed that she had an epileptic episode when she played the game, the influence is close to what real neurologists do to trigger diagnostic seizures.

According to CDPR’s patch notes, the flickering phenomenon was “smoothed out and the flashes reduced in frequency and magnitude.” This week, Ruppert said she met with the studio to help validate the patch. “I think this will help MANY epileptics and non-epileptics feel safer in #Cyberpunk2077,” Ruppert said.

I’ve been staying off of socials today but I am so thrilled to see this change! I worked with CDPR earlier this week to test some braindance animations, and I think this will help MANY people with epilepsy and non-epileptic feel safer in #Cyberpunk2077.

Thank you, @CDPROJEKTRED https://t.co/KUOVFJGFmA.

— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) December 11, 2020

The update includes several other patches, including one for a problem. Even though a player had toggled a setting to disable infringing music from playing, certain copyrighted songs would function. As a temporary fix on Thursday, CDPR had warned streamers to turn off all music in the game to avoid possibly causing a DMCA attack.

Despite the numerous early problems of Cyberpunk 2077, including rumors of bad results on older consoles, the game so far has been a significant financial success. According to a CDPR’s investor website document, CDPR has already recovered the entire production and promotion costs solely from digital preorders (PDF). The game, CDPR revealed on Wednesday, had more than eight million preorders.

According to SteamDB, Cyberpunk 2077 has destroyed Steam’s simultaneous player record for a single-player title, peaking at more than 1 million simultaneous players on Thursday. The previous record held by Fallout 4, which had a high of over 470,000 concurrent players in 2015, more than doubled the figure.