Mike Pondsmith Interview

Mike Pondsmith, creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop franchise (on which Cyberpunk 2077 is based) joins Cyberpunk Day cofounder Matthew A. Goodwin and cyberpunk TTRPG creator Mr. Stidz for a conversation about all things cyberpunk.

[@ghostwood9174]

I love Pondsmith’s narrative and world building philosophy of focusing on how people are utilizing technology, rather than dwelling on the technology itself.

[@thomasself8096]

Pondsmith's voice is perfect for radio. I loved the ingame broadcasts

[@CosmicButters]

Mike is such a cool dude, watching him talk about blade runner being his first big inspiration for cyberpunk really speaks to me.

[@Purplekaleidoscope77]

I'm really glad he created a blade runner table top. I'm currently on my second playthrough on Cyberpunk 2077. Great game!

[@thedarknight5714]

The game sucks

[@Purplekaleidoscope77]

@@thedarknight5714 well, that's your opinion. Thanks for sharing!

[@xBINARYGODx]

@@Purplekaleidoscope77 and yours is equally low value - you just state a thing. Both of you are, in terms of comments, a waste of space.

[@saltypickle7758]

@@thedarknight5714 🤦

[@JohnnySilverwrench]

Have 350 hours on street kid 228 corpo 150 as nomad currently plus 4 other "fun" accounts with roughly 90 hours each so yeah great game lots of hidden gems and makes your mind work!

[@Big_Dip1]

Dude is straight up a visionary

[@databend6609]

So glad this man gets to see his creations come to life, and i'm very grateful for it as well. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of my top 3 games and I can't wait for the sequal

[@hiddencollision8441]

I find it fascinating how Mike Pondsmith crafted this world with a well thought out timeline he takes real events and then puts a spin like how one minor difference changes the course of history plus how he designs these characters and makes their backstory's is true skill in itself.

[@josemunoz5521]

I've lost so many characters to cyberpsychosis, others to impossible gigs, AND HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE EVERY TIME, thank you Maximum Mike for all the stories and fun times, they keep roling now on CP Red, and on Phantom Liberty in September

[@seanmatthews4215]

Honestly I love Mike so much. 2020 and Red have been some of my favourite systems. I know most “true fans” prefer 2020, but I actually found red’s most streamlined approach to be better for implementing a free-flowing game

[@spudsbuchlaw]

I'm a huge 2020 fan, but I'd never reasonably play it over RED, unless everyone wanted 2020 specifically. Red is much better and any advantage 2020 has can easily be homebrewed in

[@JuergenGDB]

Hell Yeah! I can honestly say I have met Mike Pondsmith several times. Absolute gem to the Gaming world! Thank you, Mike, Cyberpunk 2077 is freaking badass. I have nearly 400 hours in. One of the best environments in gaming history. While playing Cyberpunk 2077 listen to 107.3 Morro Rock Radio and you can listen to Mike P. give the Player... audience hints and other tidbit information. He actually mentions the Bozos gang... which is coming to Cyberpunk very soon. When I joined the Marines, Mikes's content of Cyberpunk was just making its way in our gaming stores... It was new fresh and bloody amazing!

[@apictureoffunction]

Morro Rock Radio is my favorite station amd I felt a tiny pang of confidence/self assurance that it's probably Mike's favorite station as well, as I'm sure CDPR let him choose which station he "hosted"

[@rustyshackle8000]

Moro Rock Radio is just an excuse for Pondsmith to give DMs campaign ideas and I adore that. Also love how he mentions some of the more obscure content, like the Vampire The Masquerade addon he made for Cyberpunk.

[@halofreak1990]

Mike's point about NASA and space ship technology is so true. I've been following CuriousMarc's KZbin videos on the restoration of various Apollo systems, and they're having to reverse-engineer so much in order to get things back to working order, because aside from a scarce few wiring diagrams, there's very little information on the inner workings of those systems, and a lot of the people who worked on them back in the 60's and 70's, who might be able to shed some light on the tech, have since passed away. The tech they used back then, and the way it all works together is nothing short of fascinating.

[@blackshard641]

I cannot express the joy it gives me to hear Mike Pondsmith cite Darmok and Jalad.

[@AlinHanciu]

Mike is a living legend. (Just like Morgan Blackhand)

[@ben8521]

Why do I stumble on this vid only now ?? The description of the creative process was really fascinating. Cyberpunk is a vessel for commentary and storytelling. Back in the day, I was drooling on the Cyberpunk RPG but everyone around me was into Fantasy. With Cyberpunk 2077, I'm finally able to scratch that itch. Thank you Mike for crafting this world for years, just like you I enjoy walking around in awe.

[@spudsbuchlaw]

I hope the game, and now Edgerunners, has made them wanna play some CP2020 or RED

[@char1363]

@@spudsbuchlaw Once i finished edgerunners i played 2077 now i finished 2077 i am really intreseted in 2020. Ive always known about the other source material but didnt know it was a dnd type game

[@xBINARYGODx]

"With Cyberpunk 2077, I'm finally able to scratch that itch." How? the video game is not that at all.

[@astrocrab797]

@@xBINARYGODx eh kinda is. Its got a really good understanding of the themes, a story which made my cold heart cry 5 times in one sitting, and allows you to experience at least a decent fraction of what you are capable of in the ttrpg. Showed me how cool netrunning is

[@rymenocerous6689]

I love the real life parallels that Mike puts all over the lore, stuff that if you think about it are way closer to reality than you think.

[@ZOMBIESK8TBOARD]

2077's story is a masterpiece imo, it makes me want to know more about the other legends like Morgan Blackhand, and it makes me want to know more about corps especially nightcorp

[@danmcmurphy2823]

Read the world books from the TTRPGs over the years. Lots of lore there, written by Mike himself!

[@NotCharAznable]

Masterpiece really has become an overused buzzword.

[@solaireofastora8829]

Play the ttrpg

[@kinga.t.242]

@@NotCharAznable because its the only word to describe the amazing story of the game

[@char1363]

@@kinga.t.242 i dont think its perfect it has flaws in the story but it really really had the potential to be perfect i still wished they didnt breeze over the year you and jackie are becoming friends though if only they left cyberpunk 2077 cook in the oven a little longer it woukd have been perfect

[@Moondog66602]

I've always said the most important part of cyberpunk, that sometimes gets overlooked, it's the juxtaposition of the new and the old, just like he described. And the extra layer of making you think, mandatory, even just a little.

[@Falcon_Serbia]

Dude has a great voice

[@iconoclast6555]

Fell in love with the game, and now deep diving more into its lore and its so nice to find out that its creator is so cool and smart.

[@rumdonkey7826]

Man, am I glad I stumbled onto this one. Always great to hear one of the cyberpunk genre legends bounce thoughts around.

[@cyberpunkday]

Glad you enjoyed it! We're very grateful to Mike for taking the time to talk to us.

[@om3g4z3r0]

He reminds me of the guy on the radio in cp2077

[@John-mf6ky]

That's because he is lol. There would be no CP2077 without Mike.

[@danmcmurphy2823]

Lmaoo that's because you're LISTENING TO MAXIMUM MIKE, THE VOICE OF NIGHT CITY!

[@merovingianfrench8526]

This game.....no human lexicon could capture or describe the emotional influence from this game. I'm about to turn it on as we speak.

[@harringtonmartin]

Excellent vid. Thanks for this. Lots of good content here. It's always fun to dig a little deeper into the thoughts of those who love the genre.

[@cyberpunkday]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheGraySlayer]

This guy is so cool and so smart at the same time it's fucking insane. I wish I could have shown this to my dad.

[@Checker123-j4z]

Hearing that people back in the day when Cyberpunk was still new not understanding what mega corps is feels surreal to me. Like back in the day mega corps already existed with monopolies, the concepts of these massive companies having their own security force already existed as far back as East Indian Trade company. It just feels weird that people only start learning about these concepts after 2010s, as a youngester, that seems wild to me

[@lucapietrangeli270]

Wow this dudes mind is really cool to listen too. Hes got alot of interesting ideas

[@JohnnySilverwrench]

I fucking enjoy pondsmith killing my characters it makes me to push further and further with crazy ass results life isnt perfect why make a game that thinks it is lmfao i love the universe the characters the fellow chooms i run into and talk to about the universe of cyberpunk i guess all in all what im saying is thank you mike pondsmith you made something truely great that ive been playing since i was a child being born in the 90s i truelly lovethe running gunning as well as the mysteries and corruption throughout the many installations throughout continue to be a legend sir ill continue to be submerged in the universe

[@shaggyfeng9110]

Thank you for this amazing video!

[@Theoneeyed_ghoul]

42:58 Mr Blue Eyes in the Don't fear the reaper ending 👁

[@digitalbeat666]

cyberpunk was created as a warning not as a prediction. Asimov is great

[@evanbelisle8464]

Corporations are definitely taking complete control of the planet.

[@Lyle-qc8ld]

I do think the interesting aspect of technology advancing is how it further the chains of control over the workforce

[@nycto5335]

Really cool he's got quite the active reddit account.

[@jakub3451]

such a cool guy. Love it

[@Poliswag7]

He sounds exactly like my old engineering teacher from high school lmao

[@-divinetragedy]

I love how the net in Cyberpunk RED doesnt really exist as we would think of it today. After the DataKrash, the net is fractured and goes back to a state analogous to the different isolated networks across the world before the unification of the different methods of networking with tcp/ip, its globalization, and the eventual creation of the worldwide web.

[@lennythekid8328]

can someone please tell me where to find the glossary he was talking about at 16:37

[@1973Washu]

Maximum mike is awesome

[@Full_Otto_Bismarck]

I kinda miss 80s style Silverhand to be honest.

[@linz4213]

Young Steve is back!

[@ForTheViolence]

Awesome interview.

[@tylerurian]

Where do we find all these stories hes mentioning? Such as "never fade away" and the porshe

[@Mockersin]

Never fade away is in the cp 2020 core book as an adventure in the back of the book.

[@agitatedzone]

Such a cool guy

[@AlexSchwartzATV]

I can't find anything on this cyber six group he's talking about around 10:30?

[@kay-osctrl1517]

I wish I could ask mr pondsmith about the rogue a.i roaming the net like are they a threat and will the be stopped. Also about like a extra story about v getting his body back so its not just a straight path to death.

[@NIL0S]

But that's life, man. A straight path to death ;) ... Live life to its fullest, now

[@kay-osctrl1517]

@@NIL0S well said brother well said

[@Noise-Bomb]

Nah man, the ending is fitting. There is no place in NC for the happy end you're looking for. Sure it's sad but that's just the reality of that future. The end is just that, consequent.

[@kay-osctrl1517]

@@Noise-Bomb i see your point brother so ya it is fitting. Good stuff

[@Ravello1111111111111111111]

If you want a happy ending watch a Disney movie

[@MCDIXX]

great interview :)

[@Chokah]

Pondsmith looks like he could be slinging drinks with Claire..

[@jakedill1304]

Don't forget once you've made all the chips and the boards and the batteries you got to send them back to China to get assembled.. and then you know send them probably back to Taiwan to get boxed.. and then.. It's like a scavenger hunt! With extra steps! But I mean.. the alternative is you could pay people reasonable wages or not take advantage of slave labor.. and that's just kind of like like you're leaving fractions of the cent on the table.. and centralized labor means potentially long-term jobs which means people are talking which means unions! Or near next to just as bad people talking.. you can't win capitalism by Thursday if you're leaving those cents on the table! And if you can't win capitalism by Thursday.. what's the point? Is it weird when I miss the fantasy capitalism of the Rockefellers and Carnegie where they were actually building something and the evils of corporatism and greed etc were were in the pursuit of something I don't know if it was a good thing but it was something LOL now it's like make it to Thursday, and if it looks like it's going down make sure you hit record on your way out so that you can see the crash and buy the dip or whatever... It's a real bad sign when in the states snake bite anti-venom has been consolidated to a point where the applications can cost over $100,000 as a norm.. or insulin.. and that's the business model of the pharmaceutical companies that's like the primary business model where the r&d has gone from 30 to 3% but the old tagline still you know runs rampant.. the drugs are expensive cuz we were doing all the stuff we're doing all this you know it's expensive and and they haven't been doing that for almost two decades certainly in the last decade as this business model took over but that's pretty much the entire business industry.. how much magic money through speculation can we make and for some reason whenever that graph of rich people's feelings takes a hit, people seem to be like it's like it's an actual thing that you actually have to do to put the real money to make up for the magic money that they lost that they made up out of the thin air.. My biggest worry about the future is not that people get paid a lot of money to do things and maybe do so in questionable means etc.. my my worry is that people are getting paid a lot of money to do nothing and solidify that as an industry, and somehow make that into a product, and doing so by questionable means..

[@ChadVulpes]

"Magic money out of speculation" is a cool phrase, and so true too. I'll try to remember it.

[@eloyhbermudez]

1:16 what is the author he mentions here ?

[@stardustlad1339]

Hes referring to Robert A. Heinlein.

[@eloyhbermudez]

@@stardustlad1339 tanx !

[@EvilishDem0nic8732WhatItDo]

Leroy in disguise

[@RandaleBot]

I wish Cyberpunk had been more present in germany back in the 1990's. We had more of a Das Schwarze Auge Community in Oldenburg (As far as i know)

[@AlwaysActive1886]

Is we getting second season or more episodes for edge runners/please bring David and Rebecca back

[@Poliswag7]

I wonder what he thinks about edgerunners

[@nycto5335]

My reply keeps being treated as spam for some reason. I've commented twice already ☠ KZbin bot or bug moment right there. Anyways, he's got a reddit account and frequents a lot of Cyberpunk subreddits. Pretty cool. I was surprised when I saw how often Mike posts stuff.

[@Poliswag7]

@@nycto5335 really that’s cool. I tried to find his twitter or something but I heard he doesn’t have one. You have a link to his account?

[@scivirus3563]

WHO SAID IT failed ?

[@Cobra_156]

1 MILLION CONCURRENT PLAYERS EACH DAY! 🎉

[@Nixie-v6e]

HACK THE PLANET!!!!!!

[@tscotts9699]

Sad that the cerebral aspect of Cyberpunk has been utterly ignored in recent properties like the Edgerunners anime. Especially since it is the same medium as the brilliant Ghost in the Shell and Akira, and meant to be set in Mike's universe. Instead we just get flying cars, metal hands, and hyperviolence. All superficial. Too bad.

[@Genghis_Sean]

Did you even watch the show? It deals heavily with the psychological toll that replacing your meat with chrome has on a person.

[@tscotts9699]

@@Genghis_Sean “deals heavily” lol nah it’s a shallow, self-indulgent, poorly executed piece of hyper violent pornography for lolli-lovers.

[@astrocrab797]

Gotta disagree, once you watch the show and play the game the psychological themes are rife. Particularly in the game.

[@user-vu8zx1ov9t]

alex is alive songbird is alive and reed rogue too judy nomand still with v and pam nomands v the legend killed adam smasher lost soul is well for orion start at ripperdoc for v go home to judy were judy kept house warm for v and pam just phone call AV come for v for orion as for johnny just keep coming back v making new friends war will start brick is still v friend welcome back fixers just idea to work off

[@sirspookington]

pondsmith likely signed an NDA and can't discuss how shitty Cyperpunk 2077 is

[@nightmaster5593]

I've been wondering about this. Has he remained silent on the game's release?

[@thescrolls9190]

Is the game really that bad or was it just buggy at launch? I’m asking because I haven’t played it yet primarily from all the comments like this but if the game is fixed would it be worth owning?

[@DinaricUbermensch]

The game isn't shit, ur calling witcher 3 shit becaause thats what cyberpunk 2077 is, witcher 3 but sci fi

[@gaymansupreme]

There's no way he didn't.

[@lilbu223]

He said he likes it. On his Reddit account.

[@Vigilant28]

Y’all ain’t ask him why the writing in 2077 was so terrible Y’all not tryna speak on that

[@Skeletorfingers]

Part of me wants to ask that also, but that's like asking George rr Martin about the story of elden ring. Mike is the creator of the tabletop game cdpr used as inspiration. He was a consultant giving advice, but not a director of the dev team or writing team making big decisions in production. He basically entrusted cdpr with his baby.

[@Vigilant28]

@@Skeletorfingers nah he was there during development of this awful game . An it’s not just the game mechanics It’s the story . The actual story telling of the game is horrendously daft and bland And cyberpunk as we know it is not.

[@ivysnipe]

Oh shit. What's the story telling like in your video game?

[@Vigilant28]

@@ivysnipe complete cringe and lack of meaning

[@syberpunk]

I feel the story and writing was one of Cyberpunk 2077’s strong points.. the gameplay is really lacking but it is a pretty immersive story tbh.

[@brendanlucero8585]

Too bad CP 2077 turned out to be a trash heap.

[@jakobfel2]

It didn't. What happened is that people like you expected perfection and let the KZbinrs and "journalists" formulate an opinion for you.

[@brendanlucero8585]

@@jakobfel2 It did. CDPR themselves set a list of "promises" and features that never saw the light of day and never owned up to false advertising. But people like you are why they can get away with it and we keep getting mediocre games.

[@jakobfel2]

@@brendanlucero8585 Lol they delivered on all major promises. Minor promises had to be cut but that happens with literally every game so you'd have to point more fingers than you have at every single studio on the planet.

[@user-vt5sp3fj2s]

@@brendanlucero8585 I have almost the same talk with this fellow in other thread and he continues to speak the same nonsense - «bla bla bla the cdpr delivered on all major promises..» . i just think he is the paid bot from cdpr

[@brendanlucero8585]

@@user-vt5sp3fj2s He must be. Because this myth that they lived up to their promise is patently false. They literally cut or didn't include 90% of the features that they said in various interviews and advertisements.