Cyberpunk: Fourth Corporate War (Re-Upload, Fixed Audio)

The most significant conflict of the 21st century, when two corporate egos went head to head and brought carnage worldwide...
Intro: (0:00)
Re-Upload Disclaimer & Preamble: (0:03)
Major Players: (1:47)
Lead Up to War: (11:22)
The Ocean War: (13:21)
The Shadow War: (14:32)
The Hot War: (17:01)
The Seven Hour War: (19:45)
Dealing with the Datakrash: (21:48)
Final Days of the War: (23:30)
Consequences: (28:02)
Outro: (31:45)

[@WatchmanGamingLore]

Hello, so yes this is a re-upload of an old video. I was getting a lot of complaints on the audio quality of the old one, a problem a lot of my old videos have. So I upped the audio and took the opportunity to redo the thumbnail. I’ve been told to settle on a style of thumbnail for all my videos and a lot of the old ones are too busy anyway. Also, apparently red text isn’t a great eye catcher, it’s harder to read at a glance. So I went from Cyberpunk RED to 2077 Yellow. I hope this is better!

[@d.townzen1337]

Thank you for upping the audio. I really appreciate it. Enjoyed the lore rap up.

[@slapocapo5347]

@@d.townzen1337 ya 19:56

[@RyuusanFT86]

Cyberpunk reminds me if Disney and McDonald's decided to militarize and take over the US- it will happen very quickly.

[@jacobberry5138]

Hell. Disney already there.

[@jglerum94]

More like Blackrock and Vanguard

[@edwinvillalobos7159]

⁠@@jglerum94can’t have black water without black rock😊

[@WiseOwl_1408]

More like phizer or other biotech. They already gave insane influence

[@oat5662]

You have such a perfect voice to cover Cyberpunk lore

[@NinjaMan47]

The outcome of this war does put a lot into context for the game 2077. To the player Arasaka is unstoppable and is everywhere but in reality they are actually on the edge of collapse. The 4th Corporate War left it severely bloodied as they lost almost everything in Europe and the NUSA with even their home country of Japan turning hostile towards them. Night City is their one bastion left in North America and their global empire is being pressed on all sides. The death of its founder and the subsequent internal power struggle might just send it into a death spiral.

[@WatchmanGamingLore]

There is an additional wrinkle, though it was outside the scope of this video. Arasaka only regained its foothold in Night City in 2070 after supporting the city government during the Unification War (The NUSA was trying to reincorporate the free states by force). They’ve also improved their position in Japan after an Arasaka bodyguard took a bullet for the Emperor. So Arasaka is in the midst of grasping back its influence, but Night City is its first foothold back in North America.

[@haunt140]

@@WatchmanGamingLore Thus why I ALWAYS take out arasaka corp at the end of my playthroughs lol. they destroyed the entire world. fuck em.

[@PallyKalhi]

Love the updated quality and tbh I just love this whole subject. Shout out to how Militech and Arasaka kept beating the snot out of each other after OTEC and CINO backed down.

[@AltbinariesPPK]

Honestly I'm very surprised that extreme ideologies aren't more common in cyberpunk universe like we had fascism and communism emerge after just one little depression how are there not neo Communists and neo-fascists and neo whatever the hell's trying to overthrow the corporations

[@danielhogan6255]

Communism is alive and well in cyberpunk... The U.S.S.R still exists. Hell they even got nonexistent crime rates and people are friendly af...wanna guess why?... lol@@AltbinariesPPK

[@LinTekKim]

Wish Militech had more quests in base game. With the upcoming expansion we know we'll be with NUSA which is basically headed by a former Militech president so we'll see how it plays out.

[@Tinyuvm]

One of the things that doesn't make sense to me is the Colombians attacking Rio de Janeiro since there is a distance of 3000 miles between them. But the rest of the Lore is awesome.

[@Aristocrat1cs]

Makes total sense, they nuked NYC ffs

[@WatchmanGamingLore]

That is actually explained in the sourcebook: They traveled by submarine and offloaded the invasion force some 260km down the coast. Militech also sent in paratroopers and had covertly filled the city with partisan cells to undermine the defenses. More submarines delivered troops directly into the city during the fighting and submarine mounted artillery provided support.

[@Tinyuvm]

@@WatchmanGamingLore Thanks, this Key detail was missing

[@lucasdolsan1636]

Well, considering the US nuked Japan twice, on a much greater distance, back in 1945 and IRL

[@Tinyuvm]

@@lucasdolsan1636 U.S had a more complex logistical system and resources, besides, Japan was on the ropes and couldn't react to the bombings. Colombia is economically weaker than Brazil, but since Militech was bankrolling them with gear and logistics It is plausible.

[@elperrodelautumo7511]

I wish there was another cyberpunk timeline video that has information about what happens in between 2045 and 2077. Truly we must wait until the cyberpunk red book or pondsmith decide to spoil us the events and people that have some major spoilers that lead to 2077

[@PapaCharlie9]

I did a side by side compare and the audio on this re-upload is way better. Definitely worth it.

[@starpaladinnelaj]

I hope to see many more 2077 lore vids like this from you. Your voice is perfect for narrating the events of this Dark Future.

[@nomadhomad3685]

Nice. I watched the original upload just the other day and was losing my mind over the low voice audio lol

[@lurtiskoe]

that last sentence you said "a world reordered by the overreaching ambitions of two men with too much power, greed, and sheer egotism." Hitting too close to home my guy! But excellent listen. I dunno why but since I started playing Cyberpunk again this month I found your essay's on the lore recently and love your take. Plus your voice is soothing enough for radio. Peace and love my guy. Cheers.

[@HCG]

The audio is much better, thanks

[@TheKaffeekatze]

Thumbnail looks fantastic and the audio is absolutely perfect!

[@earlcrawford7491]

Phantom Liberty brought me back! This is the best Lore video I've seen on this game. Great work! Cant wait to see more of your lore videos.🎉

[@262cj]

waited on this one

[@j.b.5652]

Best cyberpunk lore videos. Thank you for this and all your timeline videos!

[@RejuvinationFreedom]

Fascinating

[@icetrey8662]

Johnny's memory doesn't make sense in game either. Smasher blows his arm off and then you see it anyway at Arasaka

[@gregoryvn3]

I just watched this! Well, I'll just have to watch the new version too, so there! Reminds me I need to pick up Cyperpunk Red too.

[@woody4779]

Thanks for the reupload!

[@lucasdolsan1636]

I wish more people would give a shit about cp2077 lore

[@EduardoFuenmayor]

Thanks for this, very well made video

[@virvitula2283]

Commenting for exposure +loved the vid

[@danielhogan6255]

No its not too long of a video, if anything, i enjoy your high level of research. Please keep it up... Instant subscribe!👍 Oh and if you ask me, spider murphy sold out to arasaka, rogue sold out to militech. Spider probably used an experimental version of soulkiller (experimental for the 20's i mean) on johnny, and used it as a bargaining chip to get access to mikoshi and the different data flagged "pieces of alt" to try put her now only friends consciousness back together in the net. This is before then freeing alt from mikoshi..probably didnt think alts net consciousness and soulkiller would merge into one being... Or perhaps... that was the whole point.. Why rogue sold out to militech, i just dont know, but its the reason she went from domestic terrorist to night citys preem tier fixer in 20 years. By the time of the red? Shes one of THE major players in night citys underworld.. And only cut ties with militech, when johnny resurfaces inside V's head... In 2077....57 years after "the day the tower fell".

[@tracespanton6777]

i love this plzz make more cyberpunk lore!!!

[@e1v1a19]

Great vid!

[@FashionEnemy]

Nice job.

[@daethwing188]

All your cyberpunk lore videos rule

[@enkimerlin3209]

Man I love this lore!!!

[@Arkanadra]

Dank.

[@Revvyfire]

ah yes thank you sounds way better.

[@DeeganJango]

This is a great video, but are you just reading the Wiki pages? The script sounds very familiar. Anyway, thanks for the summary.

[@WatchmanGamingLore]

I wrote this mostly while looking at the old Fourth Corporate War sourcebooks and the Cyberpunk RED core rule book. I definitely borrowed some phrasing in places, but I tried to avoid directly copying large sections. A lot of the wiki pages are word for word copying the sourcebooks I’ve found.

[@DeeganJango]

@@WatchmanGamingLore That makes sense. Its still a good story. Ive watched it twice and just sent it to my son who shared with all is friends who weren't familiar with the table top games and wanted to know more about the Cyberpunk Universe.

[@evilpatman9288]

Good video, but I was under the impression that the time of red was just a Night City thing, not worldwide.

[@danielhogan6255]

Yeah it gives that vibe but when playing the ttrpg, it becomes evident that the red cloud in night city is the biggest sign of ecological diaster.. but in certain foreign countries, the landscape more closly resembles mad max than cyberpunk..miles and miles of wasteland.. With a blood red clouded sky as the cherry on top.

[@TheDennys21]

Why would you use a nuke to destroy one building? Also, where and how did a rockerboy even get 2 nukes?

[@danielhogan6255]

micro thermonuclear charges. Less than a kiloton, was supposed to go off in the basement of arasaka. The storehouse for mikoshi and that "basement" closer resembled a presidential bunker. As cyberpunk 2020 players, your players become "beta team" and due to shit going south after finding out yorinobu is already inside mikoshi (in 2020) and is most likely already soulkilled, the bombs go off on the 120th floor. And finally, where do you think the american anarchistic rocker boy got the nukes from? He didnt. Morgan blackhand did.. and militech supplied the nukes... it was morgans operation and militech were financing it.. Johnny, rogue spider shaitan and the entirety of beta team? Expendable.. Nothing but a decoy and a support team. johnny told himself over and over again the falsified memories of "the day the tower fell," that it was his operation, and that he got a hold of those charges, because hes narcisistic and needs to be the centre of attention. And because he needs V to do his bidding..his Death was heavily altered too.. Johnny died in a REALLY anti-climactic way the day the tower fell. His version of his final moments is straight up posturing and a total fabrication. Its actually funny how full of shit he is🤣

[@TheDennys21]

@@danielhogan6255 thanks for clearing that up. There was no need for nukes tho, a regular bomb is more than capable of taking down a skyscraper.

[@e1v1a19]

Stupid question here - so does this mean spy killer is canon and confirmed by Cyberpunk Red?

[@WatchmanGamingLore]

I’m pulling a blank on what spy killer is. What do you mean?

[@e1v1a19]

Soul killer!

[@e1v1a19]

Meant to ask if soul killer was in the original cyberpunk board game series? Or was it created solely for cyberpunk 2077 and embedded as new canon?

[@e1v1a19]

*

[@WatchmanGamingLore]

Ah, no Soulkiller goes back to the very first edition of Cyberpunk. That event in 2013 when Alt was kidnapped by Arasaka because of Soulkiller? That was a scenario from the first edition.

[@ShreddedSteel]

There was nothing wrong with the last one... They need their receivers replaced This is an awesome overview, Thanks

[@grantbokmiller4127]

It’s sad that most people don’t actually know the real lore of the night city h*locaust. Johnny obviously doesn’t give accurate retellings of events and I think it’s sad that 2077 doesn’t emphasize that enough. Johnny is a narcissist and an unreliable narrator and the video game would have you believe the events you see are true

[@PositiveVibes-lw7gl]

I disagree with that last statement (Not that the stuff about johnny). The game tells you time and time again that Johnny is a narcissist, which explains why he thought he was the hero the night he died, and why events of that night are so skewed. If you pay attention, you’d find that the game by no means would have you believe the events from Johnny’s POV were at all accurate. Alt Cunningham confirms to you herself that his accounts of the events resembled nowhere near the truth, and that alone should say a lot more happened (and differently) than what johnny shows us.

[@theminer49erz]

Man, i really wish I could like the game. The story/world is great, but everything looks ridiculous. Like a Jetsons reboot or something. The cybernetics and implants etc make me think of those old CGI transformers shows like beast wars or whatever. I think they took the descriptions of "neon" in Gibson's books and other derivative work the wrong way. I giess that could just be how I see it, but I does seem like it was to imply that the main lighting was neon signs like how Blade Runner looks. I was hoping for more hacked together or "realistic" implants etc and a MUCH "darker" environment. Its basically the opposite of what Inthought it would be nevermind all the issues it had/has and unfulfilled promises. Oh well...maybe someday someone will get it right. Perhaps using UE5...at least STALKER 2 is just about out! Anyway, thanks for the videos, they are still entertaining!

[@GreyTide]

I kinda wish you had called them Sea-No, Oh-Tek, and I-Hag instead of spelling out their names each time.