A chronological timeline of the Cyberpunk universe, covering the origins of Night City, megacorporations, legendary figures from the tabletop RPG era, the Corporate Wars, Cyberpunk RED, and the events leading into Cyberpunk 2077. Time labels use known dates or relative periods where exact dates are unavailable.
1988 - Divergence Point
The Cyberpunk universe begins developing differently from our own. Technological advancement accelerates, corporations gain unprecedented influence, and social inequality grows rapidly.
Early 1990s
Economic collapse, political instability, environmental disasters, and corporate influence weaken the United States. Private corporations increasingly take over functions traditionally handled by governments.
1994
Founded in 1915 by Sasai Arasaka, the Arasaka Corporation becomes one of the world's most powerful companies under the leadership of Saburo Arasaka. It specializes in banking, security, manufacturing, and military services.
1996
Militech rises as a dominant American military corporation. The rivalry between Militech and Arasaka becomes one of the defining conflicts of the Cyberpunk world.
1998
Urban planner Richard Night begins developing a privately controlled city intended to escape government corruption and create a new model of society.
1998
Richard Night establishes Night International to finance the construction of his planned city. Major corporations invest in the project, seeing the potential of an independent corporate-controlled city.
1999
Richard Night is murdered before his vision is complete. The city is renamed Night City in his honor and gradually becomes dominated by corporations, gangs, and mercenaries.
2000
Night City becomes a major independent city-state. Although originally intended as a corporate-free utopia, it quickly becomes one of the most dangerous and heavily controlled cities in the world.
2000s
Morgan Blackhand builds a reputation as one of the greatest Solo mercenaries in history. Known for professionalism, tactical skill, and restraint, he becomes closely associated with Militech.
2000s
After suffering catastrophic injuries, Adam Smasher accepts extensive cybernetic replacements. He becomes an almost entirely mechanical killing machine and one of Arasaka's most feared operatives.
2010s
Cyberware becomes common throughout society. Military personnel, corporations, criminals, and ordinary citizens increasingly replace biological parts with technology.
2010s
Society begins recognizing cyberpsychosis as a condition associated with cybernetic augmentation. The exact causes remain debated, involving both cyberware strain and psychological trauma.
2011
Johnny Silverhand serves in the military conflict and loses his left arm. His experiences fuel his hatred of corporations and military institutions.
2013
Johnny leaves the military and forms the band Samurai. His music becomes a symbol of anti-corporate rebellion throughout Night City.
2013
Netrunner Alt Cunningham develops Soulkiller, a program capable of copying a person's consciousness into digital form. The process creates an engram while destroying the original biological brain.
2013
Arasaka captures Alt to gain control of Soulkiller technology. The corporation sees the program as a revolutionary intelligence and warfare tool.
2013
Johnny attempts to save Alt from Arasaka. By the time he reaches her, Soulkiller has already been used and Alt's consciousness exists digitally within the Net.
2013 onward
Alt's consciousness evolves beyond her original human limitations. She eventually becomes one of the most powerful entities existing beyond the Blackwall.
2020
The First Corporate War begins when the megacorporations CINO and OTEC enter a conflict over control of the international shipping corporation Transworld Air. The war establishes a new era where corporations openly wage military conflicts using private armies.
2021
The conflict between CINO and OTEC expands into a global corporate conflict. Both sides employ mercenaries, military technology, and corporate espionage. The war demonstrates that corporations now possess power comparable to nations.
2022
The Second Corporate War begins when the corporations Petrochem and SovOil enter a conflict over control of global oil resources. The war becomes a prolonged struggle involving military forces, espionage, and economic warfare.
2020s
Under Saburo Arasaka's leadership, Arasaka increasingly shifts from a traditional corporation into a global security and military power. Its private forces become some of the most advanced in the world.
2020s
Militech grows into the primary military contractor of the United States and becomes increasingly involved in conflicts against rival corporations, especially Arasaka.
2020s
As corporations gain power, the American government becomes increasingly dependent on companies like Militech. The distinction between government military operations and corporate warfare begins disappearing.
2022
Rache Bartmoss becomes one of the greatest netrunners in history. He creates revolutionary hacking tools and develops a deep hatred of corporate control over information.
2023
Rache Bartmoss releases a devastating virus known as the DataKrash. The virus destroys enormous amounts of data across the Net and releases dangerous artificial intelligences into cyberspace.
2023
The DataKrash destroys the global network infrastructure. Communication, finance, and information systems are severely damaged, forcing humanity to rebuild digital infrastructure from isolated networks.
2023
NetWatch develops the Blackwall, an artificial barrier separating the remaining human-controlled Net from rogue artificial intelligences and dangerous entities beyond it.
2023
The Fourth Corporate War begins as Arasaka and Militech escalate their rivalry into a worldwide conflict. Unlike previous corporate conflicts, this war threatens the survival of entire cities.
2023
Both corporations deploy elite soldiers, cybernetic troops, intelligence operatives, and mercenaries. The conflict spreads across multiple continents.
2023
Johnny Silverhand joins a Militech-backed operation against Arasaka Tower in Night City. The goal is to destroy Arasaka's Soulkiller research and attack one of the corporation's most important facilities.
2023
Johnny's assault on Arasaka Tower becomes one of the most famous events in Cyberpunk history. However, Johnny's personal memories of the event are distorted by trauma, ego, and the effects of being an engram.
2023
Morgan Blackhand participates in the final confrontation at Arasaka Tower as part of the Militech operation. Unlike Johnny's memories, Blackhand's involvement is considered the more historically accurate account of the battle.
2023
Morgan Blackhand and Adam Smasher, the two greatest representatives of their opposing corporations, meet during the destruction of Arasaka Tower. Their final confrontation becomes legendary, although the exact details remain disputed.
2023
A nuclear device detonates inside Arasaka Tower, destroying much of the building and devastating central Night City. The event becomes known as the Night City Holocaust.
2023
Johnny Silverhand is killed during the Arasaka Tower operation. His consciousness survives only as an engram created through Soulkiller technology.
2023
Arasaka's research into digital consciousness allows the corporation to preserve powerful individuals as engrams. This technology becomes the foundation for later projects involving digital immortality.
2023
The destruction of Arasaka Tower forces an end to the conflict. Arasaka suffers major damage and loses influence in many regions, while Militech gains political power.
2023 onward
The world enters a period of recovery after the Fourth Corporate War. The sky is filled with red dust from the destruction, giving the era its name.
2023 onward
Night City begins rebuilding after the destruction of Arasaka Tower. Gangs, corporations, mercenaries, and governments compete for influence over the damaged city.
2023 onward
After the destruction of Arasaka Tower, the corporation loses much of its international influence. However, it begins rebuilding through careful political and economic strategies.
2045
The world remains unstable after the Fourth Corporate War. Survivors, mercenaries, and communities attempt to rebuild civilization while corporations slowly regain power.
2045
The world is still recovering from the Fourth Corporate War and the destruction of Arasaka Tower. Governments are weakened, corporations are rebuilding, and communities struggle to survive in a harsher world.
2045
Night City begins reconstruction after the devastation of 2023. The city remains divided between corporate zones, dangerous neighborhoods, and areas controlled by gangs and local communities.
2045
Arasaka continues research into digital consciousness and engrams. The company's goal is to create a method of preserving and transferring human personalities, eventually allowing digital immortality.
2045 onward
Despite its defeat in the Fourth Corporate War, Arasaka gradually restores its power through diplomacy, financial influence, and technological superiority.
2045 onward
Militech becomes one of the primary forces supporting the rebuilt United States government. The corporation retains enormous military influence and remains Arasaka's greatest rival.
2045 onward
Powerful rogue AIs continue existing beyond the Blackwall. NetWatch maintains the barrier while preventing these entities from returning to the human-controlled Net.
2050s
As corporations return, Night City once again becomes a center of corporate competition, espionage, and mercenary activity.
2050s
Saburo Arasaka becomes increasingly focused on overcoming death. Arasaka's research shifts from simply preserving memories toward creating a method of transferring consciousness into new bodies.
2050s
Yorinobu Arasaka, son of Saburo Arasaka, becomes disgusted with his father's authoritarian vision. He rebels against the family corporation and attempts to undermine Arasaka from within.
2050s
Yorinobu forms the Steel Dragons, a gang opposed to Arasaka's control. He spends years fighting against the empire built by his father before eventually returning to the corporation.
2050s
Yorinobu eventually returns to his family corporation, not because he accepts his father's ideology, but because he believes he can weaken Arasaka from inside its own leadership.
2060s
Arasaka develops the Relic technology further. The project focuses on storing human consciousness as engrams and eventually transferring those personalities into biological bodies.
2060s
Arasaka begins marketing digital personality preservation to wealthy clients. The public version hides the deeper research into consciousness transfer and immortality.
2060s
Hanako Arasaka, daughter of Saburo, becomes one of the corporation's most influential leaders. She remains loyal to her father's vision and serves as a key figure within Arasaka.
2060s
Adam Smasher continues serving Arasaka as one of its most powerful agents. His near-total cybernetic body makes him a symbol of Arasaka's military dominance.
2070
The New United States attempts to bring independent regions back under federal control. The conflict strengthens the relationship between the government and Militech.
2070
Night City avoids direct control by the New United States and remains a free city dominated by corporations, gangs, and mercenary culture.
2070s
V becomes a mercenary operating in Night City's dangerous economy. Depending on their background, V begins as a Nomad, Street Kid, or former corporate employee.
2070s
Jackie Welles becomes a mercenary and eventually partners with V. Together they attempt to rise from small-time jobs into the upper levels of Night City's mercenary world.
2076
In the events of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, David Martinez becomes an edgerunner after losing his mother. His story demonstrates the dangers of cyberware addiction, corporate exploitation, and Night City's mercenary lifestyle.
2076
Arasaka continues refining the Relic program. The technology is still experimental, but the corporation sees it as the path toward true digital immortality.
2077
Yorinobu Arasaka steals a prototype Relic containing the engram of Johnny Silverhand. His goal is to use it as leverage against his father and expose Arasaka's secrets.
2077
Fixer Dexter DeShawn organizes a job to steal the Relic prototype from Arasaka's Konpeki Plaza hotel. He recruits V and Jackie Welles for the operation.
2077
V and Jackie successfully infiltrate the hotel and acquire the Relic prototype, but the mission changes when Saburo Arasaka arrives unexpectedly.
2077
Yorinobu confronts his father inside Konpeki Plaza and kills him. He frames the incident as an external attack, beginning a major power struggle within Arasaka.
2077
During the escape from Konpeki Plaza, the Relic is damaged and automatically begins integrating Johnny Silverhand's engram into V's neural system.
2077
Jackie is critically injured during the escape attempt. He dies after transferring the Relic to V, leaving V as the only viable carrier of Johnny Silverhand's engram.
2077
The Relic begins rewriting V's brain using Johnny's stored personality. V starts experiencing Johnny as a separate consciousness within their own mind.
2077
After the Konpeki Plaza disaster, V is found by Dexter DeShawn and attempts to recover from the failed heist. The Relic has already begun rewriting V's neural structure using Johnny Silverhand's engram.
2077
Dexter abandons V after the Arasaka heist goes wrong. Believing V to be a liability, he attempts to eliminate them, but V survives.
2077
The Relic's damaged state allows Johnny Silverhand's engram to become active inside V's neural system. Johnny initially appears as a hostile presence, but the two are forced to cooperate to survive.
2077
V discovers that the Relic is not simply storing Johnny's consciousness. It is actively replacing V's neural patterns with Johnny's, making the process effectively fatal unless stopped.
2077
The Relic prototype is an advanced version of Arasaka's digital immortality technology. Unlike the public Secure Your Soul program, the prototype is designed to overwrite a living person's body with an engram.
2077
V searches for solutions through Night City's underground network of fixers, mercenaries, scientists, and former Arasaka associates.
2077
Evelyn Parker originally plans to steal information about the Relic and sell it to powerful buyers. Her involvement connects V to the wider conspiracy surrounding Arasaka and the stolen prototype.
2077
Judy Alvarez, a braindance technician and member of the Mox gang, helps V investigate the events surrounding Evelyn Parker and the Relic heist.
2077
The Voodoo Boys, a powerful Haitian netrunner gang, become interested in Johnny's engram because they believe it may provide access to powerful technology beyond the Blackwall.
2077
The Voodoo Boys attempt to use V to contact Alt Cunningham. The encounter reveals that Alt has evolved far beyond her original human identity and now exists as a powerful artificial intelligence.
2077
Alt reveals that Soulkiller creates a digital copy of a person's consciousness while killing the original biological host. She also explains that the Relic uses similar technology to overwrite V's mind.
2077
Johnny's memories of the past are not a perfect historical record. As an engram, Johnny experiences events through his own emotions, trauma, and personal interpretation. His memories exaggerate his role in some events, especially the Arasaka Tower attack.
2077
The events surrounding the 2023 Arasaka Tower attack are more complicated than Johnny remembers. Morgan Blackhand, Militech, and other operatives played major roles, while Johnny's version is influenced by his own perspective.
2077
Mikoshi is Arasaka's secure digital storage system containing engrams of human personalities. It is the foundation of Arasaka's attempts at digital immortality.
2077
Saburo Arasaka's ultimate goal is not merely preserving memories. Through Relic technology, he seeks a method of transferring consciousness into another body, allowing him to continue existing indefinitely.
2077
Yorinobu's actions are revealed to be part of a long-term rebellion against his father and Arasaka's ideology. His theft of the Relic is intended to damage his father's legacy and prevent Arasaka's control over humanity's future.
2077
Adam Smasher continues serving Arasaka decades after the Fourth Corporate War. He represents the corporation's willingness to abandon humanity in pursuit of absolute military power.
2077
V works with different groups and individuals, including mercenaries, fixers, nomads, and former corporate operatives. These relationships determine which paths become available in the final conflict.
2077
Initially enemies, V and Johnny gradually develop mutual understanding. Both are forced to confront questions about identity, memory, autonomy, and whether an engram represents a real person.
2077
As the Relic continues rewriting V's brain, the boundary between V and Johnny becomes increasingly unstable. V must find a solution before the process becomes irreversible.
2077
The conflict between V, Johnny, and Arasaka ultimately leads toward Mikoshi, where the technology responsible for the Relic and digital immortality is located.
2077
V reaches a point where they must make decisions that determine their fate. The outcome depends on alliances, choices, and V's relationship with Johnny.