Interview: Studio Trigger was CD Projekt Red's first choice for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Paweł Sasko explains why Trigger was CDPR's first choice, and how they collaborated.

Lucy in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. / Netflix

“Cyberpunk: Edgerunners actually did an incredible job of introducing people into the world in a gentle way,” CD Projekt Red’s associate game director Paweł Sasko tells us at Gamescom LATAM 2024. “Cyberpunk [2077] puts you in that world, and from the very beginning, there are [things] happening. There are Fixers, there’s cyberware, the skill tree, chooms, the lingo, the people – there are just a lot of things that overload your cognitive capabilities. And for Edgerunners, Bartosz [Sztybor], our narrative director for comics and animation, focused on the core.”

Even if you’re not a fan of Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is an excellent anime to watch in isolation, but it clearly did a great job of advertising the world of the game at the same time. When Edgerunners launched, Cyberpunk 2077 saw a player increase on Steam, and we can assume the same applied to other platforms too.

“As game devs, we are used to tutorializing gameplay, how to use certain features, and so on. We rarely do that with lore,” Sasko tells GLHF. “We need to be a little more strategic and mindful about it.”

Cyberhacking in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. / Netflix

CD Projekt Red was the one to seek an animation studio for this project first, with Sasko telling us: “The way it worked was that we had the idea that we wanted to make an anime, and we were looking for the best partner,” he explains. “It came from us.

“Bartosz was working on the first outline and idea for the story, and with that, we were looking for a partner. Rafał Jaki, who is a showrunner on our side, is a huge fan of Studio Trigger. Studio Trigger was a first choice for us, so we were hoping that it would work out, and it did.”

Trigger and CD Projekt Red - an edgy match made in heaven. / Netflix

Studio Trigger was founded by former Gainax animators who worked on the likes of Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann and Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Trigger, Inc. was seen as the “bad boy” of anime. Early projects like Inferno Cop and Kill la Kill had a distinct pacing, sense of style, and attitude. That Trigger house style ended up being the perfect match for CD Projekt Red, the “bad boy” of triple-A publishing, and Cyberpunk’s edgy world.

“They are very seasoned animators who really know their craft, but they also love telling stories that are a bit edgy,” Sasko explains. “I think that edginess really grasped them, you know? They talked about it many times.”

Rebecca is a Studio Trigger creation. / Netflix

This is clear to anyone who has both played 2077 and watched Edgerunners, but the creative process was a two-way street that saw creative teams at both CD Projekt Red and Trigger share and collaborate on ideas that made it into the final product. “David, for instance, is actually designed by our concept artist, so we collaborated in that way, doing early designs,” Sasko says. “But not everyone – Rebecca, for instance, who is a beloved character, was designed by Trigger 100%.

“Bartosz Sztybor was working together with writers from Studio Trigger to adapt his story,” Sasko continues. “They were asking us, for instance, ‘we would like to have a phone call in the series,’ so we would tell them ‘if you want a holocall, here’s the sound, what it looks like, what the eyes look like,’ and they would use it. Trigger did a tremendous job of analyzing the game, they played the game, took screenshots, and they took shots from the game for scenes.”

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the perfect companion piece for Cyberpunk 2077. / Netflix

Trigger’s keen eye and study of the game’s world clearly paid off as the anime is as faithful a representation of Cyberpunk’s world can be, but the final necessity to set the scene is music. “Originally we were to have an original score for the anime, like how you would score a movie. Trigger actually suggested that they use some of the music from the base game,” Sasko says. “At first Rafał Jaki and our business team thought ‘this probably won’t work, but give it a shot.’ Trigger put our music in, whatever they wanted, showed it to us, and everyone was like ‘holy shit.’ I have goosebumps when I think about it.”

As I said, the teams at both CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger are a bit out of the box, so it probably shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that CDPR’s lawyer is also a rapper. “[Diego Cichy Don] is basically our former lawyer, and he put his own piece into the background,” Sasko tells us with a smile on his face. “There is a moment in Edgerunners where you can hear Polish rap in the back playing – that’s him.”