WeirdCo and CDPR's Holophone web app turns Cyberpunk TCG into a branching faction story told by text message. You pick Arasaka, the Aldecaldos or Maelstrom, and your games at the local store feed into it. The alpha drops with pre-release on 30 October, but it's one job deep for now.
Holophone is a companion web app (desktop and mobile) for Cyberpunk TCG, built by WeirdCo with CD PROJEKT RED.
You pick Arasaka, the Aldecaldos or Maelstrom and get jobs by text message, with a branching story.
Finishing jobs earns Street Cred for rewards, and Weekly Brawl results at stores feed in via Melee, even if you lose.
The alpha launches with Welcome to Night City pre-release on 30 October. Full retail is 6 November.
There is only one Main Job at launch. Full story content arrives in early 2027.
Cyberpunk’s never been shy about selling Night City in every format going, and the card game is now getting its own phone. WeirdCo, the studio behind the CD PROJEKT RED-licensed Cyberpunk TCG, has revealed Holophone. It’s a companion web app that drip-feeds you a branching faction story by text message while you play the actual card game at your local game store.
Think of the phone V is glued to in Cyberpunk 2077: fixers blowing up your messages with jobs, contacts dropping lore, the odd threat. Holophone is that, but as a real app on desktop and mobile, built by WeirdCo’s narrative team together with CDPR. In WeirdCo’s own deep dive, text messaging is “our main method of storytelling”.
The timing is tight. WeirdCo announced Holophone on 7 October and says an alpha version launches alongside the Welcome to Night City pre-release events on the weekend of 30 October (subject to change). The game itself hits full retail on 6 November.
Keep your expectations in check, though. For pre-release and November there’s just one Main Job, which works as a demo and intro. WeirdCo says the full narrative content and more features arrive in early 2027. So at launch it’s a teaser on a phone, not a campaign.
Cyberpunk TCG is WeirdCo’s officially licensed trading card game, made in collaboration with CD PROJEKT RED. The Kickstarter reportedly pulled in about US$28.4 million from more than 50,000 backers, which retail guides call the most-funded TCG campaign in Kickstarter history. Backer boxes began shipping in September. The first retail set, Welcome to Night City, follows with pre-release kits (six boosters and a promo) and starter decks. A second set themed on Edgerunners is reportedly due in spring 2027, which fits nicely with Edgerunners 2 having just landed on Netflix.
For NZ/AU players: we couldn’t find an official ANZ distributor announcement. Some local stores, including NZ’s Otakumart, are already listing Welcome to Night City product, but whether your local store runs pre-release or Weekly Brawl events (and so whether Holophone rewards reach you) depends on the store. Ask your LGS before you rock up.
Honestly? This is a smart bit of kit. The biggest problem every new TCG has is getting people back to the store in week three, once the shiny-pack buzz wears off. Paying out Street Cred for showing up, even when you get smoked, is a cheeky, effective hook, and doing it through in-universe fixer texts is about as Cyberpunk as it gets.
But let’s not pretend one demo job is a feature. Launching an “alpha” next to a brand-new game is how you get half-baked first impressions, and “full content in early 2027” means the people buying in at launch are beta testers with a binder. We also haven’t seen what the “exclusive prizes” actually are. If they’re meaningful cards or promos, there’s an obvious grind-to-win worry for anyone whose local store doesn’t run the events, and that could easily include a chunk of NZ and Australia. Nail the stories and spread the events out properly, and Holophone could be the thing that makes this more than a Kickstarter flex.
Are you choomba enough to sleeve up, or is Night City staying on your PC? Pick your faction and argue about it in the comments, or come yell at us in the GetRekt Discord.
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