CD Projekt Red has debunked a long-standing myth surrounding Cyberpunk 2077’s frequent elevator sequences, with developers clarifying that they were never used to hide loading screens.
For years, players have assumed the game’s lengthy elevator rides were masking load times, a trick famously used in older titles like Mass Effect. Cyberpunk 2077’s dense open world and sprawling interiors made the theory easy to believe. But according to the studio, that assumption is wrong.
In a recent post on BlueSky, Igor Sarzynski, creative director on Cyberpunk 2077, called it out directly and shut it down.
CD Projekt Red says elevators were never hiding load times
“Mini rant: no, elevators in Cyberpunk are not ‘cleverly concealed loading screens,’” Sarzynski wrote. “You really think you can traverse a whole city and enter a huge complex interior with no loading screens but we need to do elevator tricks to load a penthouse?”
Sarzynski said Night City has lots of elevators because it’s built vertically, not because the game needs them to load. As a vertically designed, technology-driven metropolis, elevators are a natural part of the city’s infrastructure.
Players on the Cyberpunk subreddit backed that up, pointing out that elevators often function as narrative pauses rather than technical barriers. One user noted that some elevators slow down specifically to allow conversations to play out, such as during story moments in Dogtown with President Myers.
Another player highlighted the Arasaka Tower sequence in the main story, where the elevator ride is noticeably extended to accommodate dialogue. In both cases, the pacing is tied to storytelling, not asset loading.
According to CD Projekt Red, elevators in Cyberpunk 2077 serve as structural and narrative tools designed to reinforce immersion and realism. While they may feel long at times, the studio confirmed they were never masking load screens, putting a long-running community myth to rest.
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