It will be a while before CD Projekt Red releases the next Cyberpunk game, but they’ve recently collaborated with Fortnite, bringing V and Johnny Silverhand skins into Battle Royale.
While many fans are happy about the collaboration, it sparked some controversy regarding the male version of V.
Male V Erasure?
Anyone who has played Cyberpunk 2077 knows that V can be played as either male or female, and players can choose their sex at the beginning of the game. Though V is available in the Fortnite collaboration, some are disappointed that the only version available is a woman, and there’s no option for a Male V.
Already, some are calling this a ‘woke’ problem, but as it turns out, the main reason why Male V wasn’t included in the game was because the collab was already bringing in Johnny Silverhand. This was explained by Cyberpunk dev Patrick K. Mills on Twitter (via @TekinJ2000):
It turns out that it was just basic logistics. The collaboration only involved two characters for the game, and Mills thought bringing in Johnny rather than the male version of V would be better.
Even if that was the explanation, some fans think this also has a marketing angle.
Cyberpunk’s Original Launch
Though Night City and Cyberpunk may be celebrated now, the game was originally known to be the face of one of the most disastrous launches in game history.
Despite the hype for 2077 after the success of CDPR’s Witcher III: Wild Hunt, Cyberpunk was released for PS4-gen consoles and was completely buggy and unplayable. Players reported consistent crashes, which became so bad that it had to be pulled out of the digital stores.
@frostedkuki on Blue Sky suggests that the move to have Female V in Fortnite is consistent with the marketing of Cyberpunk ever since Phantom Liberty came out. Male V had been the original face of Cyberpunk when it initially launched, meaning that his image is kind of attached to all this negative press and bad reviews; but by the time Phantom Liberty came out and the game was “fixed”, the Female V had been the prominent face of all the marketing.
So essentially, Male and Female V became representative of different eras of Cyberpunk 2077, and Fem V was just the more popular one this time.
Wake Up Samurai
Even if Male V didn’t show up for this collaboration, there’s still a chance he could be brought to the game. After all, there are several incoming Cyberpunk projects, such as a new animated series and a sequel to the original game, so more collaborations could come to Fortnite.
Besides, several Cyberpunk-cosmetics and weapons have been made available with the collab, and players can easily take any male character and dress them up like they would Male V—complete with mantis blades.
Cyberpunk items will only be available in Fortnite until Jan. 7, 2025. Fortnite is now playable on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4|5, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices.