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{{Short description|Science fiction subgenre in a futuristic dystopian setting}}
{{Other uses}}
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| image4            = Vista del Puerto de Victoria desde Kowloon, Hong Kong, 2013-08-11, DD 15.JPG
| image5            = Chongqing Nightscape.jpg
| footer            = Artificial landscapes and "city lights at night" were some of the first metaphors used by the genre for [[cyberspace]] (in ''[[Neuromancer]]'', by [[William Gibson]]). From top to bottom: [[Times Square]], [[New York City|New York]] ([[United States]]), [[Shibuya]], [[Tokyo]] ([[Japan]]), [[Monterrey]], [[Nuevo León]] ([[Mexico]]), [[Hong Kong]] ([[China]]) and [[Yuzhong, Chongqing|Yuzhong]], [[Chongqing]] ([[China]])
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'''Cyberpunk''' is a [[subgenre]] of [[science fiction]] set in a [[dystopia]]n future. It is characterized by its focus on a combination of "[[low-life]] and [[high tech]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Sterling |first=Bruce |chapter=Preface |title=Burning Chrome by William Gibson |publisher=Harper Collins |year=1986 |page=xiv}}</ref> It features a range of futuristic technological and scientific achievements, including [[artificial intelligence]] and [[cyberware]], which are juxtaposed with [[societal collapse]], dystopia or decay.<ref>Thomas Michaud, "Science fiction and politics: Cyberpunk science fiction as political philosophy", pp. 65–77 in {{cite book |last= Hassler |first= Donald M. |title= New Boundaries in Political Science Fiction |publisher= [[University of South Carolina Press]] |year= 2008 |isbn= 978-1-57003-736-8}} See pp. 75–76.</ref> A significant portion of cyberpunk can be traced back to the [[New Wave science fiction]] movement of the 1960s and 1970s. During this period, prominent writers such as [[Philip K. Dick]], [[Michael Moorcock]], [[Roger Zelazny]], [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]], [[J. G. Ballard]], [[Philip José Farmer]] and [[Harlan Ellison]] explored the impact of technology, [[drug culture]], and the [[sexual revolution]]. These authors diverged from the [[utopia]]n inclinations prevalent in earlier science fiction.

Comics exploring cyberpunk themes began appearing as early as [[Judge Dredd]], first published in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/cyberpunk/bibliography.html|title=Bibliography for GURPS Cyberpunk|publisher=Steve Jackson Games|website=sjgames.com|access-date=13 July 2019|quote=The world of the British Judge Dredd is quintessentially cyberpunk...}}</ref> Released in 1984, [[William Gibson]]'s influential [[debut novel]] ''[[Neuromancer]]'' helped solidify cyberpunk as a genre, drawing influence from [[punk subculture]] and early [[hacker culture]]. [[Frank Miller]]'s ''[[Ronin (DC Comics)|Ronin]]'' is an example of a cyberpunk graphic novel. Other influential cyberpunk writers included [[Bruce Sterling]] and [[Rudy Rucker]]. The [[Japanese cyberpunk]] subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of [[Katsuhiro Otomo]]'s [[manga]] series ''[[Akira (manga)|Akira]]'', with its [[Akira (1988 film)|1988 anime film adaptation]] (also directed by Otomo) later popularizing the subgenre.

Early films in the genre include [[Ridley Scott]]'s 1982 film ''[[Blade Runner]]'', one of several of Philip K. Dick's works that have been adapted into films (in this case, ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]''). The "first cyberpunk television series"<ref name="Hague">{{cite book | last=Hague | first=Angela | title=Teleparody: Predicting/preventing the TV Discourse of Tomorrow | publisher=Wallflower Press | publication-place=London New York | year=2002 | isbn=1-903364-39-6 | oclc=50497381 | page=68}}</ref> was the TV series ''[[Max Headroom (TV series)|Max Headroom]]'' from 1987, playing in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks, and where computer hacking played a central role in many story lines. More recently, the animated series ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' (1999–2001) is considered a noteworthy example of the cyberpunk genre. The films ''[[Johnny Mnemonic (film)|Johnny Mnemonic]]'' (1995)<ref name="ctheory1">{{cite web |url=http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=150 |title=CTheory.net |publisher=CTheory.net |access-date=2009-03-20 |archive-date=2009-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722181849/http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=150 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and ''[[New Rose Hotel (film)|New Rose Hotel]]'' (1998),<ref name="dvdverdict2000">{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/newrosehotel.php |title=DVD Verdict Review&nbsp;– New Rose Hotel |publisher=Dvdverdict.com |date=2000-01-10 |access-date=2009-03-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228231709/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/newrosehotel.php |archive-date=2008-12-28 }}</ref><ref name="nytimes1999">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/film/100199rose-film-review.html |title='New Rose Hotel': Corporate Intrigue, Steamy Seduction |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1999-10-01 |access-date=2009-03-20}}</ref> both based upon short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically, while ''[[RoboCop|Robocop]]'' (1987), ''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'' (1990), ''[[Judge Dredd (film)|Judge Dredd]]'' (1995), and [[The Matrix (franchise)|''The Matrix'' trilogy]] (1999–2003) were more successful cyberpunk films.

Newer cyberpunk media includes ''[[Tron: Ares]]'' (2025) and ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' (2010), sequels to the original ''[[Tron]]'' (1982); ''[[Blade Runner 2049]]'' (2017), a sequel to the original 1982 film; ''[[Dredd]]'' (2012), which was not a sequel to the original movie; ''[[Ghost in the Shell (2017 film)|Ghost in the Shell]]'' (2017), a live-action adaptation of [[Ghost in the Shell (manga)|the original manga]]; ''[[Alita: Battle Angel]]'' (2019), based on the 1990s Japanese manga ''[[Battle Angel Alita]]''; the 2018 [[Netflix]] TV series ''[[Altered Carbon (TV series)|Altered Carbon]]'', based on [[Richard K. Morgan]]'s [[Altered Carbon|2002 novel of the same name]]; and the video game ''[[Cyberpunk 2077]]'' (2020) and [[original net animation]] (ONA) [[miniseries]] ''[[Cyberpunk: Edgerunners]]'' (2022), both based on [[R. Talsorian Games]]' 1988 tabletop role-playing game ''[[Cyberpunk (role-playing game)|Cyberpunk]]''.

== Background ==
Lawrence Person has attempted to define the content and ethos of the cyberpunk literary movement stating:

{{blockquote|Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous [[datasphere]] of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body.|author= [[Lawrence Person]]<ref name="Person">
{{cite web |url= http://slashdot.org/features/99/10/08/2123255.shtml
|title= Notes Toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto
|author-link= Lawrence Person |last= Person |first= Lawrence
|date= October 8, 1999
|work= [[Slashdot]]}} Originally published in ''Nova Express'', issue 16 (1998).
</ref>
}}

Cyberpunk plots often involve conflict between [[artificial intelligence]], [[hackers]], and [[megacorporation]]s, and tend to be set in a near-future [[Earth]], rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation (Isaac Asimov novel)|Foundation]]'' or [[Frank Herbert]]'s ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]''.<ref name="Graham">{{cite book |last= Graham |first= Stephen |title= The Cybercities Reader |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6Oe1m073C-0C&pg=RA2-PT289 |publisher= [[Routledge]] |year= 2004 |page= 389 |isbn= 978-0-415-27956-7}}</ref> The settings are usually [[post-industrial]] [[dystopia]]s but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors ("the street finds its own uses for things").<ref name="Gibson, William">{{cite book |first=William |last=Gibson |title=Burning Chrome |year=1981}}</ref> Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes [[film noir]], and written works in the genre often use techniques from [[detective fiction]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Gillis |first= Stacy |title= The Matrix Trilogy:Cyberpunk Reloaded |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bGi9FB3uEXkC&pg=PA75 |publisher= Wallflower Press |year= 2005 |page= 75 |isbn= 978-1-904764-32-8}}</ref> There are sources who view that cyberpunk has shifted from a literary movement to a mode of science fiction due to the limited number of writers and its transition to a more generalized cultural formation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Cyberpunk and Visual Culture|last1=Murphy|first1=Graham|last2=Schmeink|first2=Lars|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|isbn=978-1-351-66515-5|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Science Fiction After 1900: From the Steam Man to the Stars|last=Landon|first=Brooks|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=978-0-415-93888-4|location=New York|pages=164}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded|last=Gillis|first=Stacy|publisher=Wallflower Press|year=2005|isbn=978-1-904764-33-5|location=London|pages=3}}</ref>

== History and origins ==
The origins of cyberpunk are rooted in the [[New Wave science fiction]] movement of the 1960s and 1970s, where ''[[New Worlds (magazine)|New Worlds]]'', under the editorship of [[Michael Moorcock]], began inviting and encouraging stories that examined new writing styles, techniques, and [[archetype]]s. Reacting to conventional storytelling, New Wave authors attempted to present a world where society coped with a constant upheaval of new technology and culture, generally with dystopian outcomes. Writers like [[Roger Zelazny]], [[J. G. Ballard]], [[Philip José Farmer]], [[Samuel R. Delany]], and [[Harlan Ellison]] often examined the impact of drug culture, technology, and the ongoing sexual revolution, drawing themes and influence from experimental literature of [[Beat Generation]] authors such as [[William S. Burroughs]], and art movements like [[Dadaism]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Parker|first=John R.|title='New Worlds': One of the Most Influential Sci-Fi Magazines Returns This Fall|url=https://comicsalliance.com/new-worlds-magazine-returns/|access-date=2022-12-29|website=ComicsAlliance|date=20 August 2011 |language=en |quote=Ballard's amazing kink-think-pieces on the intrusion of technology and media — "The Atrocity Exhibition", "Notes Towards a Mental Breakdown", "The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy Considered as a Downhill Motor Race" (collected with others as ''The Atrocity Exhibition'' with illustrations by Phoebe Gloeckner) — paved the way for cyberpunk. Brian Aldiss practically populated his own subgenre with quirky epics like ''Acid Head War'', a messianic tale of freestyle narrative set in a post-war Europe in which hallucinogenic drugs had affected entire populations, and ''Report on Probability A'', an experimental story about the observations of three characters named G, S, and C.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McCaffery |first=Larry |title=Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk & Postmodern Science Fiction |publisher=Duke University Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0-8223-9822-6|pages=216 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1168ch3 |jstor=j.ctv1168ch3 |oclc=972009012}}</ref>

Ballard, a notable critic of literary archetypes in science fiction, instead employs metaphysical and psychological concepts, seeking greater relevance to readers of the day. Ballard's work is considered have had a profound influence on cyberpunk's development,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Elhefnawy|first=Nader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ol5lDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT60|title=Cyberpunk, Steampunk and Wizardry: Science Fiction Since 1980|date=2015-06-14|publisher=Nader Elhefnawy|language=en}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2025}} as evidenced by the term "Ballardian" becoming used to ascribe literary excellence amongst science fiction social circles.<ref>{{cite web |date=2008-11-26 |title='Unblinking, clinical': From Ballard to cyberpunk |url=http://www.ballardian.com/unblinking-clinical-from-ballard-to-cyberpunk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228172557/http://www.ballardian.com/unblinking-clinical-from-ballard-to-cyberpunk |archive-date=2017-12-28 |access-date=28 December 2017 |website=Ballardian.com}}</ref> Ballard, along with Zelazny and others continued the popular development of "realism" within the genre.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashley |first=Mike |date=2016-07-01 |title=Science Fiction Rebels |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781781382608.001.0001 |doi=10.5949/liverpool/9781781382608.001.0001|isbn=9781781382608 }}</ref>

Delany's 1968 novel ''[[Nova (novel)|Nova]]'', considered a forerunner of cyberpunk literature,<ref>{{Cite book|last=McCaffery|first=Larry|title=Storming the Reality Studio : a Casebook of Cyberpunk & Postmodern Science Fiction.|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1991|isbn=978-0-8223-9822-6|pages=20, 208, 216, 264, 279, 331|oclc=972009012}}</ref> includes neural implants, a now popular cyberpunk [[Trope (literature)|trope]] for human computer interfaces.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Alan|date=2018-03-29|title=Destruction and Renewal: Nova by Samuel R. Delany|url=https://www.tor.com/2018/03/29/destruction-and-renewal-nova-by-samuel-r-delany/|access-date=2021-08-12|website=Tor.com|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Philip K. Dick]]'s novel, ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]'', first published in 1968, shares common dystopian themes with later works by Gibson and Sterling, and is praised for its "realist" exploration of cybernetic and artificial intelligence ideas and ethics.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

=== Etymology ===
The term "cyberpunk" first appeared as the [[Cyberpunk (short story)|title of a short story]] by [[Bruce Bethke]], written in 1980 and published in ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' in 1983.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of cyberpunk|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cyberpunk|access-date=2020-09-19|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Cyberpunk|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cyberpunk|access-date=2020-09-20|website=www.sf-encyclopedia.com}}</ref> The name was picked up by [[Gardner Dozois]], editor of ''[[Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine]]'', and popularized in his editorials.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cruz |first=Décio Torres |chapter=Blurring Genres: Dissolving Literature and Film in Blade Runner |date=2014 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781137439734_4 |title=Postmodern Metanarratives |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-49431-6 |access-date=2023-01-08 |pages=30, 32|doi=10.1057/9781137439734_4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lavigne |first1=Carlen |title=Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction: A Critical Study |date=2013 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0-7864-6653-5 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ER26ZJkc30C&q=cyberpunk+bethke+1983+dozois&pg=PA9 |access-date=19 September 2020}}</ref>

Bethke says he made two lists of words, one for technology, one for troublemakers, and experimented with combining them variously into compound words, consciously attempting to coin a term that encompassed both punk attitudes and high technology. He described the idea thus:

{{blockquote|The kids who trashed my computer; their kids were going to be Holy Terrors, combining the ethical vacuity of teenagers with a technical fluency we adults could only guess at. Further, the parents and other adult authority figures of the early 21st Century were going to be terribly ill-equipped to deal with the first generation of teenagers who grew up truly "speaking computer".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.neondystopia.com/cyberpunk-books-fiction/the-early-life-of-the-word-cyberpunk/|title=The Early Life of the Word "Cyberpunk" - Neon Dystopia|date=13 November 2016|website=NeonDystopia.com|access-date=28 December 2017|archive-date=10 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110183214/https://www.neondystopia.com/cyberpunk-books-fiction/the-early-life-of-the-word-cyberpunk/|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

Afterward, Dozois began using this term in his own writing, most notably in a 1984 ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' article where he said "About the closest thing here to a self-willed esthetic 'school' would be the purveyors of bizarre hard-edged, high-tech stuff, who have on occasion been referred to as 'cyberpunks' — Sterling, Gibson, Shiner, Cadigan, Bear."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1984/12/30/science-fiction-in-the-eighties/526c3a06-f123-4668-9127-33e33f57e313/|title=Science Fiction in the Eighties|first=Gardner|last=Dozois|date=30 December 1984|access-date=28 December 2017|via=www.WashingtonPost.com}}</ref>

Also in 1984, William Gibson's novel ''Neuromancer'' was published, delivering a glimpse of a future encompassed by what became an archetype of cyberpunk "virtual reality", with the human mind being fed light-based worldscapes through a computer interface. Some, perhaps ironically including Bethke himself, argued at the time that the writers whose style Gibson's books epitomized should be called "Neuromantics", a pun on the name of the novel plus "[[New Romantics]]", a term used for a New Wave pop music movement that had just occurred in Britain, but this term did not catch on. Bethke later paraphrased [[Michael Swanwick]]'s argument for the term: "the movement writers should properly be termed neuromantics, since so much of what they were doing was clearly imitating ''Neuromancer''".

Sterling was another writer who played a central role, often consciously, in the cyberpunk genre, variously seen as either keeping it on track, or distorting its natural path into a stagnant formula.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/491/cyberpunk_history.pdf|title=Postmodern Metanarratives: Blade Runner and Literature in the Age of Image|website=AthabascaU.ca|access-date=28 December 2017|archive-date=16 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180516165257/http://www.athabascau.ca/courses/engl/491/cyberpunk_history.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1986, he edited a volume of cyberpunk stories called ''[[Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology]]'', an attempt to establish what cyberpunk was, from Sterling's perspective.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-of-mirrorshades-cyberpunk.html|title=Speculiction...: Review of "Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology" Edited by Bruce Sterling|last=Jesse|date=27 January 2013|website=Speculiction.Blogspot.com|access-date=28 December 2017}}</ref>

In the subsequent decade, the motifs of Gibson's ''Neuromancer'' became formulaic, climaxing in the satirical extremes of [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[Snow Crash]]'' in 1992.

Bookending the cyberpunk era, Bethke himself published a novel in 1995 called ''[[Headcrash]]'', like ''Snow Crash'' a satirical attack on the genre's excesses. Fittingly, it won an honor named after cyberpunk's spiritual founder, the [[Philip K. Dick Award]]. It satirized the genre in this way:

{{blockquote|...full of young guys with no social lives, no sex lives and no hope of ever moving out of their mothers' basements ... They're total wankers and losers who indulge in Messianic fantasies about someday getting even with the world through almost-magical computer skills, but whose actual use of the Net amounts to dialing up the scatophilia forum and downloading a few disgusting pictures. You know, cyberpunks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wc.arizona.edu/papers/91/32/13_1_m.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151114070119/http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/91/32/13_1_m.html|url-status=dead|title=Bethke crashes the cyberpunk system - October 8, 1997|archive-date=November 14, 2015|website=wc.arizona.edu}}</ref>}}

== Style and ethos ==
Primary figures in the cyberpunk movement include William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Bruce Bethke, [[Pat Cadigan]], [[Rudy Rucker]], and [[John Shirley]]. Philip K. Dick (author of ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'', from which the film ''Blade Runner'' was adapted) is also seen by some as prefiguring the movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/MultimediaStudentProjects/00-01/0003637k/project/html/litaut.htm |title=The Cyberpunk Movement&nbsp;– Cyberpunk authors |publisher=[[Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute]] |access-date=2009-03-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720051349/http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/MultimediaStudentProjects/00-01/0003637k/project/html/litaut.htm |archive-date=2009-07-20 }}</ref>

''Blade Runner'' can be seen as a quintessential example of the cyberpunk style and theme.<ref name="Graham"/> [[Video game]]s, [[board game]]s, and [[tabletop role-playing game]]s, such as ''[[Cyberpunk 2020]]'' and ''[[Shadowrun]]'', often feature storylines that are heavily influenced by cyberpunk writing and movies. Beginning in the early 1990s, some trends in [[cyberpunk fashion|fashion]] and music were also labeled as cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is also featured prominently in [[anime]] and [[manga]] ([[Japanese cyberpunk]]), with ''[[Akira (franchise)|Akira]]'', ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'' and ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' being among the most notable.<ref name=CWCcyber>{{cite book |last=Chaudhuri |first=Shohini |title=Contemporary World Cinema: Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOXoeyesZOIC&pg=PA104 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |year=2005 |page=104 |isbn=978-0-7486-1799-9}}</ref>

=== Setting ===
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| footer            = [[Shibuya]], Tokyo, Japan (the latter image depicts [[Shibuya Crossing]]).
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| footer            = Life in [[Kowloon Walled City]] has often inspired the dystopian identity in modern media works.
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| image3            = Kowloon Walled City - 1989 Aerial.jpg
}}

Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from [[crime fiction]]—particularly [[hardboiled]] [[detective fiction]] and [[film noir]]—and [[Postmodernism|postmodernist]] prose to describe an often [[Nihilism|nihilistic]] underground side of an electronic society. The genre's vision of a [[Dystopia|troubled future]] is often called the antithesis of the generally [[utopia]]n visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian science fiction in his 1981 short story "[[The Gernsback Continuum]]", which pokes fun at and, to a certain extent, condemns utopian science fiction.<ref>{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Edward |author-link=Edward James (historian) |last2=Mendlesohn |first2=Farah |author-link2=Farah Mendlesohn |title=The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55wUHXiay-gC&pg=PA221 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2003 |page=221 |isbn=978-0-521-01657-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Neil |title=The Cultures of the New American West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bG3H3kxLhU4C&pg=PA159 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2000 |page=159 |isbn=978-1-57958-288-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Seed |first=David |title=Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HO_z5WFKwpoC&pg=PA220|publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell]]|year=2005 |page=220 |isbn=978-1-4051-1218-5}}</ref>

In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place [[online]], in [[cyberspace]], blurring the line between actual and [[virtual reality]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cyberpunk.asia/index.php?lng=us|title=Cyberpunk 2021|access-date=2011-04-20|archive-date=2009-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212155752/http://cyberpunk.asia/index.php?lng=us|url-status=dead}}</ref> A typical [[Trope (literature)|trope]] in such work is a direct [[Brain–computer interface|connection]] between the human brain and computer systems. Cyberpunk settings are dystopias with corruption, computers, and computer networks.

The economic and technological state of [[Japan]] is a regular theme in the cyberpunk literature of the 1980s. Of Japan's influence on the genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk."<ref name="cyberpunk1">{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1956774,00.html|title=The Future Perfect|magazine=Time|first=William|last=Gibson|date=30 April 2001}}</ref> Cyberpunk is often set in urbanized, artificial landscapes, and "city lights, receding" was used by Gibson as one of the genre's first [[metaphor]]s for cyberspace and virtual reality.<ref>{{cite book | title=Neuromancer | url=https://archive.org/details/neuromancer00gibs | url-access=registration | first=William| last=Gibson |date=August 1984 | publisher=Ace Books |page =[https://archive.org/details/neuromancer00gibs/page/69 69]| isbn=978-0-441-56956-4}}</ref>

The cityscapes of [[Hong Kong]]<ref name="ags">{{cite book | title=Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader | publisher=Wallflower Press | author=Redmond, Sean | year=2004 | pages=101–112}}</ref> has had major influences in the urban backgrounds, ambiance and settings in many cyberpunk works such as ''[[Blade Runner]]'' and ''[[Shadowrun]]''. [[Ridley Scott]] envisioned the landscape of cyberpunk [[Los Angeles]] in ''Blade Runner'' to be "Hong Kong on a very bad day".<ref>{{cite book |last= Wheale |first= Nigel |year= 1995 |title= The Postmodern Arts: An Introductory Reader |publisher=Routledge |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8dGfKmubQIgC&pg=PA107 |page= 107 |isbn= 978-0-415-07776-7 |access-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref> The streetscapes of the ''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)|Ghost in the Shell]]'' film were based on Hong Kong. Its director [[Mamoru Oshii]] felt that Hong Kong's strange and chaotic streets where "old and new exist in confusing relationships" fit the theme of the film well.<ref name="ags" /> Hong Kong's [[Kowloon Walled City]] is particularly notable for its disorganized hyper-urbanization and breakdown in traditional urban planning to be an inspiration to cyberpunk landscapes. During the [[British Hong Kong|British rule of Hong Kong]], it was an area neglected by both the British and Qing administrations, embodying elements of liberalism in a dystopian context. Portrayals of East Asia and Asians in Western cyberpunk have been criticized as [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] and promoting racist tropes playing on American and European fears of East Asian dominance;<ref>{{cite web|first1=Kazuma|last1=Hashimoto|access-date=2021-09-24|title=The cyberpunk genre has been Orientalist for decades — but it doesn't have to be|website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]|url=https://www.polygon.com/2021/1/30/22255318/cyberpunk-2077-genre-xenophobia-orientalism|date=30 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first1=George|last1=Yang|access-date=2021-09-24|title=Orientalism, 'Cyberpunk 2077,' and Yellow Peril in Science Fiction|url=https://www.wired.com/story/orientalism-cyberpunk-2077-yellow-peril-science-fiction/|newspaper=Wired|issn=1059-1028|via=www.wired.com}}</ref> this has been referred to as "techno-Orientalism".<ref>{{cite web|first1=Saba|last1=Gharagozli|access-date=2021-09-24|title=Detriments of Techno-Orientalism |work=[[Imprint (newspaper)|Imprint]] |date=19 May 2021 |location=[[University of Waterloo]] |url=http://uwimprint.ca/article/detriments-of-techno-orientalism/}}</ref>

=== Society and government ===
Cyberpunk can be intended to disquiet readers and call them to action. It often expresses a sense of rebellion, suggesting that one could describe it as a type of cultural revolution in science fiction. In the words of author and critic [[David Brin]]:

<blockquote>...a closer look [at cyberpunk authors] reveals that they nearly always portray future societies in which governments have become wimpy and pathetic ...Popular science fiction tales by Gibson, Williams, Cadigan and others ''do'' depict [[Orwellian]] accumulations of power in the next century, but nearly always clutched in the secretive hands of a wealthy or corporate [[elite]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=David |first=Brin |title=The Transparent Society : Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?. |date=1999 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-02790-3 |oclc=798534246}}</ref></blockquote>

Cyberpunk stories have also been seen as fictional forecasts of the evolution of the [[Internet]]. The earliest descriptions of a global communications network came long before the [[World Wide Web]] entered popular awareness, though not before traditional science-fiction writers such as [[Arthur C. Clarke]] and some social commentators such as [[James Burke (science historian)|James Burke]] began predicting that such networks would eventually form.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Arthur C. |last=Clarke |title=The Last Question |magazine=Science Fiction Quarterly |year=1956}}</ref>

Some observers cite that cyberpunk tends to marginalize sectors of society such as women and people of colour. It is claimed that, for instance, cyberpunk depicts fantasies that ultimately empower [[masculinity]] using fragmentary and decentered aesthetic that culminate in a masculine genre populated by male outlaws.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Reload: Rethinking Women + Cyberculture|last1=Flanagan|first1=Mary|last2=Booth|first2=Austin|publisher=MIT Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-262-06227-5|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=7–8}}</ref> Critics also note the absence of any reference to Africa or black characters in the quintessential cyberpunk film ''Blade Runner'',<ref name=":0" /> while other films reinforce stereotypes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction: A Critical Study|last=Lavigne|first=Carlen|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|year=2013|isbn=978-0-7864-6653-5|location=Jefferson, NC|pages=51}}</ref>

== Media ==
=== Literature ===
{{See also|List of cyberpunk works#Print media|Cyborgs in fiction}}

Minnesota writer [[Bruce Bethke]] coined the term in 1983 for his short story "[[Cyberpunk (novel)|Cyberpunk]]", which was published in an issue of ''[[Amazing Stories|Amazing Science Fiction Stories]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cyberpunk - a short story by Bruce Bethke|url=http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/cpunk.htm|access-date=2022-12-29|website=www.infinityplus.co.uk}}</ref> The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of [[William Gibson]], [[Bruce Sterling]], [[Pat Cadigan]] and others. Of these, Sterling became the movement's chief ideologue, thanks to his [[fanzine]] ''[[Cheap Truth]]''. John Shirley wrote articles on Sterling and Rucker's significance.<ref>{{cite web|first=John |last=Shirley |author-link=John Shirley |title=Two Cyberpunks: Sterling and Rucker |year=1999 |url=http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/jspunks.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081231024409/http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley/jspunks.html |archive-date=2008-12-31 }}</ref> [[John Brunner (novelist)|John Brunner]]'s 1975 novel ''[[The Shockwave Rider]]'' is considered by many{{Who|date=January 2015}} to be the first cyberpunk novel with many of the [[trope (literature)|tropes]] commonly associated with the genre, some five years before the term was popularized by Dozois.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Blue|first1=Violet|title=Wetware: Cyberpunk Erotica|date=6 August 2015|publisher=Digita Publications|edition=First|url=https://www.amazon.com/Wetware-Cyberpunk-Erotica-Violet-Blue-ebook/dp/B013AFNGQG/|access-date=20 February 2016}}</ref>

William Gibson with his novel ''[[Neuromancer]]'' (1984) is arguably the most famous writer connected with the term cyberpunk. He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, and atmosphere over traditional science-fiction tropes. Regarded as ground-breaking and sometimes as "the archetypal cyberpunk work",<ref name="Person"/> ''Neuromancer'' was awarded the [[Hugo Award|Hugo]], [[Nebula Award|Nebula]], and [[Philip K. Dick Award|Philip K. Dick]] Awards. ''[[Count Zero]]'' (1986) and ''[[Mona Lisa Overdrive]]'' (1988) followed after Gibson's popular debut novel. According to the [[Jargon File]], "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly naïve and tremendously stimulating."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/C/cyberpunk.html|title=Jargon File definition}}</ref>

Early on, cyberpunk was hailed as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality.<ref name="Brians">{{cite book |last=Brians |first=Paul |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/science_fiction/neuromancer.html |title=Study Guide for William Gibson: Neuromancer |year=1984 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061224081742/http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/science_fiction/neuromancer.html |archive-date=2006-12-24 |publisher=Washington State University}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, some critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These critics said that the science fiction [[New Wave science fiction|New Wave]] of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and styles were concerned.<ref>James, Edward. ''Science Fiction in the 20th Century'', Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1994. p. 197</ref> While ''Neuromancer''{{'}}s narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, much older examples can be found: Gibson's narrative voice, for example, resembles that of an updated [[Raymond Chandler]], as in his novel ''[[The Big Sleep]]'' (1939).<ref name="Brians"/> 

Others noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' works—often citing [[J. G. Ballard]], [[Philip K. Dick]], [[Harlan Ellison]], [[Stanisław Lem]], [[Samuel R. Delany]], and even [[William S. Burroughs]].<ref name="Brians"/> For example, Philip K. Dick's works contain recurring themes of social decay, artificial intelligence, paranoia, and blurred lines between objective and subjective realities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Eiss|first1=Harry Edwin|isbn=978-1-4438-5636-2|title=Electric sheep slouching towards Bethlehem: speculative fiction in a post modern world|access-date=26 November 2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HXYxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PR134|date=2014-03-25|publisher=Cambridge Scholars }}</ref> The influential cyberpunk movie ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982) is based on his book, ''[[Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Maustuad |first=Tom |date=1994-08-21 |title=Dark Vision lingers on 'Blade Runner' 15 years later |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/asbury-park-press-blade-runner-legacy-re/93681716/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |work=[[Asbury Park Press]] |pages=75 |agency=[[Dallas Morning News]]}}</ref> Humans linked to machines are found in Pohl and Kornbluth's ''[[Wolfbane (novel)|Wolfbane]]'' (1959) and [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[Creatures of Light and Darkness]]'' (1968).{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

In 1994, scholar [[Brian Stonehill]] suggested that [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s 1973 novel ''[[Gravity's Rainbow]]'' "not only curses but precurses what we now glibly dub cyberspace."<ref>{{Cite web|first=Brian |last=Stonehill |title=Pynchon's Prophecies of Cyberspace |url=http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/gr/bsto.html|access-date=2022-12-29|website=www.pynchon.pomona.edu}} Delivered at the first international conference on Pynchon, the [[University of Warwick]], England, November 1994.</ref> Other important predecessors include [[Alfred Bester (author)|Alfred Bester]]'s two most celebrated novels, ''[[The Demolished Man]]'' and ''[[The Stars My Destination]]'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Booker |first=M. Keith |title=Monsters, Mushroom Clouds, and the Cold War:American Science Fiction and the Roots of Postmodernism, 1946–1964 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbabLHqXbBgC&pg=PA60 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |year=2001 |page=60 |isbn=978-0-313-31873-3}}</ref> as well as [[Vernor Vinge]]'s novella ''[[True Names]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grebowicz |first=Margret |title=SciFi in the Mind's Eye: Reading Science Through Science Fiction |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company]] |year=2007 |page=147 |isbn=978-0-8126-9630-1}}</ref>

==== Reception and impact ====
Science-fiction writer [[David Brin]] describes cyberpunk as "the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction". It may not have attracted the "real punks", but it did ensnare many new readers, and it provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. Cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made science fiction more profitable to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]] and to the visual arts generally. Although the "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" on the part of cyberpunk fans were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares that the "rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt."<ref>[[David Brin]], [http://www.davidbrin.com/matrixarticle.html Review of ''The Matrix''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322014437/http://www.davidbrin.com/matrixarticle.html |date=2008-03-22 }}</ref>

[[Fredric Jameson]] considers cyberpunk the "supreme literary expression if not of [[postmodernism]], then of [[late capitalism]] itself".<ref>{{cite book|last=Jameson|first=Fredric|title=Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1991|page=419|url=http://fa.mayfirst.org/articles/Jameson_Postmodernism__cultural_logic_late_capitalism.pdf|isbn=978-1-61723-002-8|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402124654/http://fa.mayfirst.org/articles/Jameson_Postmodernism__cultural_logic_late_capitalism.pdf|archive-date=2015-04-02}}</ref>

Cyberpunk further inspired many later writers to incorporate cyberpunk ideas into their own works,{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}} such as [[George Alec Effinger]]'s ''[[When Gravity Fails]]''. ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' magazine, created by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, mixes new technology, art, literature, and current topics in order to interest today's cyberpunk fans, which [[Paula Yoo]] claims "proves that hardcore hackers, multimedia junkies, cyberpunks and cellular freaks are poised to take over the world".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yoo |first=Paula |author-link=Paula Yoo |date=1993-02-18 |title=Cyberpunk - In Print -- Hacker Generation Gets Plugged Into New Magazine |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19930218&slug=1686110 |access-date=2022-12-29 |work=The Seattle Times |page=G.3}}</ref>

=== Film and television ===
{{See also|List of cyberpunk works#Films|List of cyberpunk works#Television and Web Series|Japanese cyberpunk}}
[[File:1927 Metropolis film program from the United Kingdom 00.jpg|thumb|''Metropolis'', one of the earliest cyberpunk films ever made.<ref>BİROL, Ömer Said. "METROPOLIS’E (1927) KARŞI METOROPORİSU (2001): KARŞILAŞTIRMALI NEOFORMAL FİLM ANALİZİ." SEMPOZYUMU: 8.</ref><ref>Kiejziewicz, Agnieszka. "Dystopia, new society and machines: the 1980s as the period of emergence and development of cyberpunk cinema." (2018).</ref>]]
The film ''Blade Runner'' (1982) is set in 2019 in a dystopian future in which manufactured beings called [[replicant]]s are slaves used on space colonies and are legal prey on Earth to various bounty hunters who "retire" (kill) them. Although ''Blade Runner'' was largely unsuccessful in its first theatrical release, it found a viewership in the home video market and became a [[cult film]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Kerman |first=Judith |title=Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAma4m3w38EC&pg=PA132 |publisher=Popular Press |year=1997 |page=132 |isbn=978-0-87972-510-5}}</ref> Since the movie omits the religious and mythical elements of Dick's original novel (e.g. empathy boxes and Wilbur Mercer), it falls more strictly within the cyberpunk genre than the novel does. William Gibson later revealed that upon first viewing the film, he was surprised at how the look of this film matched his vision for ''Neuromancer'', a book he was then working on. The film's tone has since been the staple of many cyberpunk movies, such as ''[[The Matrix (franchise)|The Matrix trilogy]]'' (1999–2003), which uses a wide variety of cyberpunk elements.<ref>Barnett, P. Chad. "Reviving cyberpunk:(Re) Constructing the subject and mapping cyberspace in the Wachowski brothers' film The Matrix." Extrapolation 41.4 (2000): 359-374.</ref> A sequel to ''Blade Runner'' was released in 2017.

The TV series ''[[Max Headroom (TV series)|Max Headroom]]'' (1987) is an iconic cyberpunk work, taking place in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks. Computer hacking played a central role in many of the story lines. ''Max Headroom'' has been called "the first cyberpunk television series".<ref name="Hague" />

The number of films in the genre has grown steadily since ''Blade Runner''. Several of Philip K. Dick's works have been adapted to the silver screen. The films ''[[Johnny Mnemonic (film)|Johnny Mnemonic]]''<ref name="ctheory1" /> (1995) and ''[[New Rose Hotel (film)|New Rose Hotel]]''<ref name="dvdverdict2000" /><ref name="nytimes1999" /> (1998), both based on short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically. Other cyberpunk films include ''[[RoboCop]]'' (1987), ''[[Total Recall (1990 film)|Total Recall]]'' (1990), ''[[Hardware (film)|Hardware]]'' (1990), ''[[The Lawnmower Man (film)|The Lawnmower Man]]'' (1992), ''[[12 Monkeys (film)|12 Monkeys]]'' (1995), ''[[Hackers (film)|Hackers]]'' (1995), and ''[[Strange Days (film)|Strange Days]]'' (1995). Some cyberpunk films have been described as [[tech-noir]], a hybrid genre combining [[neo-noir]] and science fiction or cyberpunk.

=== Anime and manga ===
{{main|Japanese cyberpunk}}
{{see also|List of cyberpunk works#Animation|List of cyberpunk works#Graphic novels and comics}}
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[File:Gs026.jpg|right|thumb|A human shell in ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]''.]] -->
<!-- Image with incorrect description removed:[[File:lain hacker small.jpg|right|thumb|The hacker as hero: Lain from the cyberpunk anime series ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''.]] -->

The [[Japanese cyberpunk]] subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of [[Katsuhiro Otomo]]'s [[manga]] series ''[[Akira (manga)|Akira]]'', with its [[Akira (1988 film)|1988 anime film adaptation]], which Otomo directed, later popularizing the subgenre. ''[[Akira (franchise)|Akira]]'' inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk works, including manga and [[anime]] series such as ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'', ''[[Battle Angel Alita]]'', and ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]''.<ref name="polygon">{{cite news |title=What is cyberpunk? |url=https://www.polygon.com/features/2018/8/30/17796680/cyberpunk-2077-history-blade-runner-neuromancer |work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |date=August 30, 2018}}</ref> Other early Japanese cyberpunk works include the 1982 film ''[[Burst City]]'', and the 1989 film ''[[Tetsuo: The Iron Man]]''.

According to [[Paul Gravett]], when ''Akira'' began to be published, cyberpunk literature had not yet been translated into Japanese, Otomo has distinct inspirations such as [[Mitsuteru Yokoyama]]'s manga series ''[[Tetsujin 28-go]]'' (1956–1966) and [[Jean Giraud|Moebius]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Katsuhiro Otomo {{!}} PAUL GRAVETT |url=http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/article/katsuhiro_otomo |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=www.paulgravett.com}}</ref>

In contrast to Western cyberpunk which has roots in New Wave science fiction literature, Japanese cyberpunk has roots in [[underground music]] culture, specifically the Japanese [[punk subculture]] that arose from the [[Japanese punk]] music scene in the 1970s. The filmmaker [[Sogo Ishii]] introduced this subculture to [[Japanese cinema]] with the [[punk film]] ''[[Panic High School]]'' (1978) and the punk [[biker film]] ''[[Crazy Thunder Road]]'' (1980), both portraying the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and the latter featuring a punk [[biker gang]] aesthetic. Ishii's punk films paved the way for Otomo's seminal cyberpunk work ''[[Akira (franchise)|Akira]]''.<ref name="Midnight">{{cite web |last1=Player |first1=Mark |title=Post-Human Nightmares – The World of Japanese Cyberpunk Cinema |url=http://www.midnighteye.com/features/post-human-nightmares-the-world-of-japanese-cyberpunk-cinema/ |website=[[Midnight Eye]] |date=13 May 2011 |access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref>

Cyberpunk themes are widely visible in anime and manga. In [[Japan]], where [[cosplay]] is popular and not only teenagers display such fashion styles, cyberpunk has been accepted and its influence is widespread. William Gibson's ''Neuromancer,'' whose influence dominated the early cyberpunk movement, was also set in [[Chiba (city)|Chiba]], one of Japan's largest industrial areas, although at the time of writing the novel Gibson did not know the location of Chiba and had no idea how perfectly it fit his vision in some ways. The exposure to cyberpunk ideas and fiction in the 1980s has allowed it to seep into the Japanese culture.

Cyberpunk anime and manga draw upon a futuristic vision which has elements in common with Western science fiction and therefore have received wide international acceptance outside Japan. "The conceptualization involved in cyberpunk is more of forging ahead, looking at the new global culture. It is a culture that does not exist right now, so the Japanese concept of a cyberpunk future, seems just as valid as a Western one, especially as Western cyberpunk often incorporates many Japanese elements."<ref>{{cite web |last=Ruh |first=Brian |url=http://www.animeresearch.com/Articles/LiberatingCels |title=Liberating Cels: Forms of the Female in Japanese Cyberpunk Animation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927232446/http://www.animeresearch.com/Articles/LiberatingCels/ |archive-date=2007-09-27 |website=AnimeResearch.com |date=December 2000}}</ref> William Gibson is now a frequent visitor to Japan, and he came to see that many of his visions of Japan have become a reality:

<blockquote>Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. The [[Japanese people|Japanese]] themselves knew it and delighted in it. I remember my first glimpse of [[Shibuya, Tokyo|Shibuya]], when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-suns—all that towering, animated crawl of commercial information—said, "You see? You see? It is ''Blade Runner'' town." And it was. It so evidently was.<ref name="cyberpunk1"/></blockquote>

==== Influence ====
''[[Akira (manga)|Akira]]'' (1982 manga) and its [[Akira (1988 film)|1988 anime film adaptation]] have influenced numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television and video games.<ref name="vice">{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-akira-has-influenced-modern-culture/|title=How 'Akira' Has Influenced All Your Favourite TV, Film and Music|work=[[Vice (magazine)|VICE]]|date=September 21, 2016}}</ref><ref name="filmschoolrejects">{{cite web |title='Akira' Is Frequently Cited as Influential. Why Is That? |url=https://filmschoolrejects.com/akira-influence-12cb6d84c0bc/ |website=[[Film School Rejects]] |date=April 3, 2017}}</ref> ''Akira'' has been cited as a major influence on [[Hollywood films]] such as ''[[The Matrix]]'',<ref name="gaeta-empire">{{cite journal|date=February 2006|title=200 Things That Rocked Our World: Bullet Time|journal=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|issue=200|page=136|publisher=[[EMAP]]}}</ref> ''[[Chronicle (film)|Chronicle]]'',<ref>{{cite web|last=Woerner|first=Meredith|title=Chronicle captures every teen's fantasy of fighting back, say film's creators|url=http://io9.com/5881852/chronicle-is-a-movie-about-every-teens-fantasy-of-fighting-back|publisher=[[io9]]|access-date=25 May 2012|date=2 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226195315/http://io9.com/5881852/chronicle-is-a-movie-about-every-teens-fantasy-of-fighting-back|archive-date=26 February 2014}}</ref> ''[[Looper (film)|Looper]]'',<ref>{{cite web|title=Rian Johnson Talks Working with Joseph Gordon-Levitt on LOOPER, Hollywood's Lack of Originality, Future Projects and More|work=[[Collider (website)|Collider]]|url=https://collider.com/rian-johnson-reddit-ama/|date=2012-09-25}}</ref> ''[[Midnight Special (film)|Midnight Special]]'', and ''[[Inception]]'',<ref name="vice"/> as well as cyberpunk-influenced video games such as [[Hideo Kojima]]'s ''[[Snatcher (video game)|Snatcher]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamecritics.com/great-games-snatcher|title=Great Games Snatcher|work=GameCritics.com|first=Ben|last=Hopper|date=February 20, 2001|access-date=2011-08-24}}</ref> and ''[[Metal Gear (series)|Metal Gear Solid]]'',<ref name="polygon"/> [[Valve Corporation|Valve]]'s ''[[Half-Life (series)|Half-Life]]'' series<ref>{{cite news |title=Half-Life tiene varias referencias a Akira |url=https://as.com/meristation/2018/08/29/noticias/1535543681_545901.html |work=[[:es:MeriStation|MeriStation]] |publisher=[[Diario AS]] |date=August 29, 2018 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The most impressive PC mods ever made |url=https://www.techradar.com/news/the-most-impressive-pc-mods-ever-made |work=[[TechRadar]] |date=June 14, 2018}}</ref> and [[Dontnod Entertainment]]'s ''[[Remember Me (video game)|Remember Me]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Feature: "Life is Strange" Interview and Hands-on Impressions |url=https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2015/01/28/feature-life-is-strange-interview-and-hands-on-impressions |work=[[Crunchyroll]] |date=January 28, 2015}}</ref> ''Akira'' has also influenced the work of musicians such as [[Kanye West]], who paid homage to ''Akira'' in the "[[Stronger (Kanye West song)|Stronger]]" music video,<ref name="vice"/> and [[Lupe Fiasco]], whose album ''[[Tetsuo & Youth]]'' is named after Tetsuo Shima.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lupe-fiasco-is-avoiding-politics-on-tetsuo-youth-20131025|title=Lupe Fiasco's 'Tetsuo & Youth' Avoiding Politics – Rolling Stone|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=2 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141117113659/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lupe-fiasco-is-avoiding-politics-on-tetsuo-youth-20131025|archive-date=17 November 2014|date=2013-10-25}}</ref> The popular bike from the film, Kaneda's Motorbike, appears in ''[[Steven Spielberg]]'''s film ''[[Ready Player One (film)|Ready Player One]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.inverse.com/article/42981-ready-player-one-anime-easter-eggs-gundam|title= 'Ready Player One' Anime Easter Eggs Include Gundam, Voltron and Much More|work= inverse.com|first=Eric|last=Francisco|date= 30 March 2018}}</ref> and [[CD Projekt]]'s video game ''[[Cyberpunk 2077]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cyberpunk 2077 devs "will be significantly more open" |url=https://www.pcgamesn.com/cyberpunk-2077/cyberpunk-2077-announcement-future |work=[[PCGamesN]] |date=June 12, 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Digital rain animation small letters shine.gif|thumb|An interpretation of digital rain, similar to the images used in ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'' and later in ''[[The Matrix (franchise)|The Matrix]]'']]

''[[Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)|Ghost in the Shell]]'' (1995) influenced a number of prominent filmmakers, most notably [[the Wachowskis]] in ''[[The Matrix]]'' (1999) and its sequels.<ref name="silver-anime-2">{{cite interview |first=Joel |last=Silver |title=interviewed in "Making ''The Matrix''" featurette on ''The Matrix'' DVD}}</ref> ''The Matrix'' series took several concepts from the film, including the [[Matrix digital rain]], which was inspired by the opening credits of ''Ghost in the Shell'' and a sushi magazine the wife of the senior designer of the animation, Simon Witheley, had in the kitchen at the time,<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.wired.com/story/the-matrix-code-sushi-recipe | title=The Matrix Code Sushi Recipe | magazine=Wired}}</ref> and the way characters access the Matrix through holes in the back of their necks.<ref name="uk">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/19/hollywood-ghost-in-the-shell | title=Hollywood is haunted by Ghost in the Shell | work=The Guardian | access-date=26 July 2013|date=19 October 2009|last=Rose|first=Steve}}</ref> Other parallels have been drawn to [[James Cameron]]'s ''[[Avatar (2009 film)|Avatar]]'', [[Steven Spielberg]]'s ''[[A.I. Artificial Intelligence]]'', and [[Jonathan Mostow]]'s ''[[Surrogates]]''.<ref name=uk /> James Cameron cited ''Ghost in the Shell'' as a source of inspiration,<ref>{{cite news |title=Hollywood is haunted by ''Ghost in the Shell'' |first=Steve |last=Rose |newspaper=The Guardian |date=October 19, 2009 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/19/hollywood-ghost-in-the-shell |access-date=July 27, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130308101232/http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/oct/19/hollywood-ghost-in-the-shell |archive-date=March 8, 2013}}</ref> citing it as an influence on ''Avatar''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schrodt |first1=Paul |title=How the original 'Ghost in the Shell' changed sci-fi and the way we think about the future |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/original-ghost-in-the-shell-movie-influence-2017-3 |access-date=14 June 2019 |work=[[Business Insider]] |date=1 April 2017}}</ref>

The [[original video animation]] ''[[Megazone 23]]'' (1985) has a number of similarities to ''The Matrix''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Megazone 23 - Retroactive Influence|publisher=[[A.D. Vision]]|url=http://www.advfilms.com/titles/megazone/|access-date=2010-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050204175820/http://www.advfilms.com/titles/megazone/|archive-date=2005-02-04}}</ref> ''[[Battle Angel Alita]]'' (1990) has had a notable influence on filmmaker James Cameron, who was planning to adapt it into a film since 2000. It was an influence on his TV series ''[[Dark Angel (2000 TV series)|Dark Angel]]'', and he is the producer of the 2019 film adaptation ''[[Alita: Battle Angel]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Live-Action "Alita: Battle Angel" Finally Shows Its Hand |url=http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2017/12/08-1/live-action-alita-battle-angel-finally-shows-its-hand |work=[[Crunchyroll]] |date=December 8, 2017 |access-date=October 16, 2018 |archive-date=January 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116063802/https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2017/12/08-1/live-action-alita-battle-angel-finally-shows-its-hand |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Comics ===
In 1975, artist [[Jean Giraud|Moebius]] collaborated with writer [[Dan O'Bannon]] on a story called ''[[The Long Tomorrow (comics)|The Long Tomorrow]]'', published in the French magazine ''[[Métal Hurlant]]''. One of the first works featuring elements now seen as exemplifying cyberpunk, it combined influences from [[film noir]] and [[hardboiled]] crime fiction with a distant sci-fi environment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://moebiusodyssey.space/book/long-tomorrow/|title = The Long Tomorrow – Moebius Odyssey| date=30 August 2017 }}</ref> Author [[William Gibson]] stated that Moebius' artwork for the series, along with other visuals from ''Métal Hurlant'', strongly influenced his 1984 novel ''[[Neuromancer]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3LkLqQLvdcC&q=%22So+it%27s+entirely+fair+to+say%2C+and+I%27ve+said+it+before%2C+that+the+way+Neuromancer-the-novel+%27looks%27+was+influenced+in+large+part+by+some+of+the+artwork+I+saw+in+Heavy+Metal%22&pg=PA281|title = Futurescapes: Space in Utopian and Science Fiction Discourses|isbn = 978-90-420-2602-5|last1 = Pordzik|first1 = Ralph|year = 2009| publisher=Rodopi }}</ref> The series had a far-reaching impact in the cyberpunk genre,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.adafruit.com/2020/04/10/the-profound-influence-of-moebius-on-cyberpunk-art-and-aesthetics-cyberpunk/|title = The Profound Influence of Moebius on Cyberpunk Art and Aesthetics #cyberpunk|date = 10 April 2020}}</ref> being cited as an influence on [[Ridley Scott]]'s ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'' (1979) and ''[[Blade Runner]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/1994/01/moebius-2/|title = Moebius|magazine = Wired|last1 = Frauenfelder|first1 = Mark}}</ref> 

Moebius expanded upon ''The Long Tomorrow'''s aesthetic with ''[[The Incal]]'', a graphic novel collaboration with [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]] published from 1980 to 1988. The story centers around the exploits of a [[detective]] named John Difool in various science fiction settings, and while not confined to the tropes of cyberpunk, it features many elements of the genre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/the-incal-classic-w.html|title = The Incal: Classic, weird-ass French space-opera comic drawn by Moebius, reprinted in English|date = 13 February 2012}}</ref> Moebius was one of the designers of ''[[Tron]]'' (1982), a movie that shows a world inside a computer.<ref name="boucher">{{cite news |last=Boucher |first=Geoff |date=2 April 2011 |title=Moebius on his art, fading eyesight and legend: 'I am like a unicorn' |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://herocomplex.latimes.com/comics/moebius-on-his-art-fading-eyesight-and-legend-i-am-like-a-unicorn/}}</ref>

Concurrently with many other foundational cyberpunk works, [[DC Comics]] published [[Frank Miller]]'s six-issue miniseries ''[[Rōnin (DC Comics)|Rōnin]]'' from 1983 to 1984. The series, incorporating aspects of [[Samurai]] culture, martial arts films and manga, is set in a dystopian near-future [[New York City|New York]]. It explores the link between an ancient Japanese warrior and the apocalyptic, crumbling cityscape he finds himself in. The comic also bears several similarities to ''Akira'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://leviathyn.com/50440/ronin-review-frank-millers-samurai-demon-ai-run-amok-in-ny/|title=Ronin Review: Frank Miller's Samurai, Demon & AI Run Amok in NY|date=28 August 2013}}</ref> with highly powerful [[Telepathy|telepaths]] playing central roles, as well as sharing many key visuals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://johnpistelli.com/2018/12/11/katsuhiro-otomo-akira/|title = Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira|date = 12 December 2018}}</ref>

''Rōnin'' would go on to influence many later works, including ''[[Samurai Jack]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/samurai-jack-genndy-trivia-facts/|title = 15 Things You Didn't Know About Samurai Jack|website = [[Screen Rant]]|date = 17 February 2017}}</ref> and the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://metaltv.com/page.cfm?id=262 |title=Heavy Metal - the Illustrated Adult Fantasy Art Magazine |website=metaltv.com |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103221806/http://metaltv.com/page.cfm?id=262 |archive-date=3 January 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> as well as video games such as ''[[Cyberpunk 2077]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/cyberpunk-2077-frank-miller-ronin-influence/|title = How Frank Miller's Ronin Influenced Cyberpunk 2077|date = 27 December 2020}}</ref> Two years later, Miller himself would incorporate several toned-down elements of ''Rōnin'' into his acclaimed 1986 miniseries ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'', in which a retired Bruce Wayne once again takes up the mantle of [[Batman]] in a Gotham that is increasingly becoming more dystopian.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA196442100&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=14497751&p=AONE&sw=w| title = Popular culture and the ecological gothic: Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Document - Gale Academic OneFile}}</ref>

[[Paul Pope]]'s ''[[Batman: Year 100]]'', published in 2006, also exhibits several traits typical of cyberpunk fiction, such as a rebel protagonist opposing a future authoritarian state, and a distinct [[Retrofuturism|retrofuturist]] aesthetic that makes callbacks to both ''The Dark Knight Returns'' and Batman's original appearances in  the 1940s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/mar/04/comics|title = Review: Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope and Jose Villarrubia|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 4 March 2007}}</ref>

=== Video games ===
{{see also|List of cyberpunk works#Video games||List of cyberpunk works#Role-playing games}}

There are [[:Category:Cyberpunk video games|many]] cyberpunk [[video game]]s. Popular series include the ''[[Megami Tensei]]'' series, Kojima's ''[[Snatcher (video game)|Snatcher]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series, ''[[Deus Ex (series)|Deus Ex]]'' series, ''[[Syndicate (series)|Syndicate]]'' series, and ''[[System Shock]]'' and its [[System Shock 2|sequel]]. Other games, like ''[[Blade Runner (1997 video game)|Blade Runner]]'', ''[[Ghost in the Shell (video game)|Ghost in the Shell]]'', and the ''[[The Matrix (franchise)#Video games|Matrix]]'' series, are based upon genre movies, or [[role-playing game]]s (for instance the various ''[[Shadowrun]]'' games).

Several [[role-playing games|RPGs]] called ''Cyberpunk'' exist: ''Cyberpunk'', ''[[Cyberpunk 2020]]'', ''Cyberpunk v3.0'' and ''Cyberpunk Red'' written by [[Mike Pondsmith]] and published by [[R. Talsorian Games]], and ''[[GURPS Cyberpunk]]'', published by [[Steve Jackson Games]] as a module of the [[GURPS]] family of RPGs. ''Cyberpunk 2020'' was designed with the settings of William Gibson's writings in mind, and to some extent with his approval,<ref name="cpinfluence">{{cite web |url=https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/feature/cyberpunk-red-rpg-almost-killed-us-mike-pondsmith-interview |title='Making Cyberpunk Red almost killed us': Mike Pondsmith on the return of the tabletop RPG, catching up with 2020's future and Cyberpunk 2077 |last=Allison |first=Peter Ray |date=26 February 2020 |website=Dicebreaker |access-date=23 May 2020 |quote=Although many assume William Gibson’s Neuromancer was a source of inspiration for Cyberpunk, it was only much later that Pondsmith read Gibson’s groundbreaking novel. Instead, the designer cites his own key reference points for the game as the film Blade Runner and the novel Hardwired by Walter John Williams, who also helped playtest the RPG. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713191348/https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/feature/cyberpunk-red-rpg-almost-killed-us-mike-pondsmith-interview |archive-date=13 July 2020 |url-status=dead }}</ref> unlike the approach taken by [[FASA Corporation|FASA]] in producing the transgenre ''[[Shadowrun]]'' game and its various sequels, which mixes cyberpunk with [[fantasy]] elements such as magic and [[fantasy races]] such as [[orcs]] and [[elves]]. Both are set in the near future, in a world where [[cyberware|cybernetics]] are prominent. [[Iron Crown Enterprises]] released an RPG named ''[[Cyberspace (role-playing game)|Cyberspace]]'', which was out of print for several years until recently being re-released in online PDF form. [[CD Projekt Red]] released ''[[Cyberpunk 2077]],'' a cyberpunk [[open world]] [[first-person shooter]]/[[role-playing video game]] (RPG) based on the [[Tabletop role-playing game|tabletop RPG]] ''[[Cyberpunk 2020]]'', on December 10, 2020.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/everything-we-know-about-cyberpunk-2077/|title=Everything we know about Cyberpunk 2077|work=pcgamer|access-date=2018-06-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2018-heres-why-cyberpunk-2077-had-to-be-a-first/1100-6459843/|title=E3 2018: Here's Why Cyberpunk 2077 Had To Be A First-Person Game|last=Fillari|first=Alessandro|date=2018-06-14|website=GameSpot|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/10/18/cyberpunk-2077-is-cd-projekt-reds-next-game|title=Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt Red's Next Game|date=2012-10-18|website=IGN.com|access-date=2012-11-05}}</ref> 

In 1990, in a convergence of cyberpunk art and reality, the [[Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service#Raid|United States Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games's headquarters]] and confiscated all their computers. Officials denied that the target had been the ''[[GURPS Cyberpunk]]'' sourcebook, but Jackson later wrote that he and his colleagues "were never able to secure the return of the complete manuscript; [...] The Secret Service at first flatly refused to return anything – then agreed to let us copy files, but when we got to their office, restricted us to one set of out-of-date files – then agreed to make copies for us, but said "tomorrow" every day from March 4 to March 26. On March 26 we received a set of disks which purported to be our files, but the material was late, incomplete and well-nigh useless."<ref>{{Cite news|author-link=Steve Jackson (US game designer) |last=Jackson |first=Steve |date=19 April 1990 |work=Roleplayer: The GURPS Newsletter |title=SJ Games Raided! A Reality Check on GURPS Cyberpunk|url=http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Roleplayer/Roleplayer19/Raid.html|access-date=2022-12-29}}</ref> Steve Jackson Games won a lawsuit against the Secret Service, aided by the new [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]. This event has achieved a sort of notoriety, which has extended to the book itself as well. All published editions of ''GURPS Cyberpunk'' have a tagline on the front cover, which reads "The book that was seized by the U.S. Secret Service!" Inside, the book provides a summary of the raid and its aftermath.

Cyberpunk has also inspired several [[tabletop game|tabletop]], [[miniature wargaming|miniature]] and [[board game]]s such as ''[[Necromunda]]'' by [[Games Workshop]]. ''[[Netrunner]]'' is a [[collectible card game]] introduced in 1996, based on the ''[[Cyberpunk 2020]]'' role-playing game. ''[[Tokyo NOVA]]'', debuting in 1993, is a cyberpunk role-playing game that uses [[playing cards]] instead of dice.

=== Music ===
{{See also|List of cyberpunk works#Music}}
{{Quote box
 | quote =Much of the industrial/dance heavy "Cyberpunk"—recorded in [[Billy Idol]]'s Macintosh-run studio—revolves around Idol's theme of the common man rising up to fight against a faceless, soulless, corporate world.
 | source =—Julie Romandetta<ref name="Romandetta">{{cite news |title=Cyber Sound: Old Fashioned Rock Gets a Future Shock from New Technology |first=Julie |last=Romandetta |newspaper=Boston Herald |location=Boston, Mass. United States. |date=1993-06-25 }}</ref>
 | width =30%
 | align =right
}}

Invariably the origin of cyberpunk music lies in the [[synthesizer]]-heavy scores of cyberpunk films such as ''[[Escape from New York]]'' (1981) and ''Blade Runner'' (1982).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://shellzine.net/cyberpunk-music-origins-and-evolution/ | title= Cyberpunk Music: Origins and Evolution | publisher=shellzine.net | date=December 26, 2019 | access-date=February 10, 2020 }}</ref> Some musicians and acts have been classified as cyberpunk due to their aesthetic style and musical content. Often dealing with dystopian visions of the future or [[Biomechanical art|biomechanical]] themes, some fit more squarely in the category than others. Bands whose music has been classified as cyberpunk include [[Psydoll]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-19 |title=Interview with Japanese cyberpunks PSYDOLL |url=https://themidlandsrocks.co.uk/interview-with-japanese-cyberpunks-psydoll/ |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=The Midlands Rocks |language=en-GB}}</ref> [[Front Line Assembly]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Front Line Assembly |url=https://vinylcastle.com/collections/front-line-assembly |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=Vinyl Castle |language=en}}</ref> [[Clock DVA]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Valerio |first=Paul |date=2025-03-24 |title=Clock DVA - Cypher (De-Cyphered) |url=https://demonlover.com/StigmataVDP/2025/03/24/clock-dva-cypher-de-cyphered/ |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=Stigmata Video Dance Party |language=en-US}}</ref>[[Angelspit]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Angelspit – Metropolis Records |url=https://www.metropolis-records.com/artist/angelspit |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=www.metropolis-records.com}}</ref> and [[Sigue Sigue Sputnik]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sigue Sigue Sputnik - History |url=https://www.musicglue.com/sigue-sigue-sputnik/history |access-date=2025-09-17 |website=Sigue Sigue Sputnik}}</ref>

Some musicians not normally associated with cyberpunk have at times been inspired to create concept albums exploring such themes. Albums such as the British musician and songwriter [[Gary Numan]]'s ''[[Replicas (album)|Replicas]]'', ''[[The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)|The Pleasure Principle]]'' and ''[[Telekon]]'' were heavily inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick. [[Kraftwerk]]'s ''[[The Man-Machine]]'' and ''[[Computer World]]'' albums both explored the theme of humanity becoming dependent on technology. [[Nine Inch Nails]]' concept album ''[[Year Zero (album)|Year Zero]]'' also fits into this category. [[Fear Factory]] concept albums are heavily based upon future dystopia, cybernetics, clash between man and machines, virtual worlds. 

{{cnspan|[[Billy Idol]]'s ''[[Cyberpunk (album)|Cyberpunk]]'' drew heavily from cyberpunk literature and the [[cyberdelic]] counter culture in its creation. ''[[1. Outside]]'', a cyberpunk narrative fueled concept album by [[David Bowie]], was warmly met by critics upon its release in 1995. Many musicians have also taken inspiration from specific cyberpunk works or authors, including [[Sonic Youth]], whose albums ''[[Sister (Sonic Youth album)|Sister]]'' and ''[[Daydream Nation]]'' take influence from the works of Philip K. Dick and William Gibson respectively. [[Madonna]]'s 2001 [[Drowned World Tour]] opened with a cyberpunk section, where costumes, asethetics and stage props were used to accentuate the dystopian nature of the theatrical concert.|date=September 2025}} [[Lady Gaga]] used a cyberpunk-persona and visual style for her sixth studio album ''[[Chromatica]]'' (2020).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Jon |date=2020-05-22 |title=In Their First Collaboration, Lady Gaga And Ariana Grande Get Exuberantly Dystopic |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/05/22/860941566/in-their-first-collaboration-lady-gaga-and-ariana-grande-get-exuberantly-dystopi |access-date=2025-09-13 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pinder |first=Jaeden |date=2025-03-07 |title=6 Takeaways From Lady Gaga’s New Album MAYHEM |url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/takeaways-from-lady-gagas-new-album-mayhem/ |access-date=2025-09-13 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Vaporwave]] and [[Synthwave (2000s genre)|synthwave]] are also influenced by cyberpunk. The former has been inspired by one of the messages of cyberpunk and is interpreted as a dystopian<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web | url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/exo-mw0002387718 | title=Exo - Gatekeeper | website=[[AllMusic]] | access-date=January 3, 2015 | author=Ham, Robert}}</ref> critique of [[capitalism]]<ref name="stylus1">{{cite web | url=http://www.stylus.com/hzwtls | title=Vaporwave: Soundtrack to Austerity | publisher=Stylus.com | date=January 29, 2014 | access-date=February 8, 2014 | author=Ward, Christian}}</ref> in the vein of cyberpunk and the latter is more surface-level, inspired only by the aesthetic of cyberpunk as a nostalgic [[retrofuturistic]] revival of aspects of cyberpunk's origins.

== Social impact ==
=== Art and architecture ===
[[File:SonyCenterAtNight.jpg|thumb|[[Berlin]]'s [[The Center Potsdamer Platz|Center Potsdamer Platz]], opened in 2000, has been described as having a cyberpunk aesthetic.]]

Writers [[David Suzuki]] and Holly Dressel describe the cafes, brand-name stores and video arcades of the [[The Center Potsdamer Platz|Center Potsdamer Platz]] in the [[Potsdamer Platz]] public square of [[Berlin]], [[Germany]], as "a vision of a cyberpunk, corporate urban future".<ref>{{cite book |last=Suzuki |first=David |author-link=David Suzuki |title=Good News for a Change:How Everyday People Are Helping the Planet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbvpz6NaZC8C&pg=PA332 |publisher=Greystone Books |year=2003 |page=332 |isbn=978-1-55054-926-3}}</ref>

=== Society and counterculture ===
Several subcultures have been inspired by cyberpunk fiction. These include the [[cyberdelic]] counter culture of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Cyberdelic, whose adherents referred to themselves as "cyberpunks", attempted to blend the [[Psychedelic era|psychedelic art and drug movement]] with the technology of [[cyberculture]]. Early adherents included [[Timothy Leary]], [[Mark Frauenfelder]] and [[R. U. Sirius]]. The movement largely faded following the [[dot-com bubble]] implosion of 2000.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}

[[Cybergoth]] is a fashion and dance subculture which draws its inspiration from cyberpunk fiction, as well as [[rave]] and [[goth subculture|Gothic]] subcultures. In addition, a distinct cyberpunk fashion of its own has emerged in recent years{{When|date=January 2015}} which rejects the raver and goth influences of [[cybergoth]], and draws inspiration from urban street fashion, "post apocalypse", functional clothing, high tech sports wear, tactical uniform and multifunction. This fashion goes by names like "tech wear", "goth ninja" or "tech ninja".{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}

The [[Kowloon Walled City]] in [[Hong Kong]], demolished in 1994, is often referenced as the model cyberpunk/dystopian slum as, given its poor living conditions at the time coupled with the city's political, physical, and economic isolation has caused many in academia to be fascinated by the ingenuity of its spawning.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-new-look-at-kowloon-walled-city-the-internets-favorite-cyberpunk-slum/|title=A New Look at Kowloon Walled City, the Internet's Favorite Cyberpunk Slum|date=2014-04-03}}</ref>

=== Cyberpunk derivatives ===
{{Main|Cyberpunk derivatives}}

As a wider variety of writers began to work with cyberpunk concepts, new subgenres of science fiction emerged, some of which could be considered as playing off the cyberpunk label, others which could be considered as legitimate explorations into newer territory. These focused on technology and its social effects in different ways. One prominent subgenre is "[[steampunk]]," which is set in an [[alternate history]] [[Victorian era]] that combines anachronistic technology with cyberpunk's bleak [[film noir]] world view. The term was originally coined around 1987 as a joke to describe some of the novels of [[Tim Powers]], [[James P. Blaylock]], and [[K.W. Jeter]], but by the time Gibson and Sterling entered the subgenre with their [[collaborative fiction|collaborative novel]] ''[[The Difference Engine]]'' the term was being used earnestly as well.<ref>{{cite news|first=Michael |last=Berry |title=Wacko Victorian Fantasy Follows 'Cyberpunk' Mold |work=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=25 June 1987}} Quoted online by {{cite web|url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/steampunk.asp |title=Steampunk |website=Wordspy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226121602/http://www.wordspy.com/words/steampunk.asp |archive-date=2008-12-26 }}</ref>

Another subgenre is "[[biopunk]]" (cyberpunk themes dominated by [[biotechnology]]) from the early 1990s, a derivative style building on biotechnology rather than informational technology. In these stories, people are changed in some way not by mechanical means, but by [[genetic engineering|genetic manipulation]].

== Registered trademark status ==
In the United States, the term "Cyberpunk" is a registered trademark owned by [[CD Projekt|CD Projekt SA]] who obtained it from the previous owner [[R. Talsorian Games|R. Talsorian Games Inc.]] who originally registered it for its [[Cyberpunk 2020|tabletop role-playing game]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=CYBERPUNK Trademark of CD PROJEKT S.A. - Registration Number 5184170 - Serial Number 85681741 |url=http://trademarks.justia.com/856/81/cyberpunk-85681741.html|access-date=2022-12-29|website=[[Justia]] |language=en}}</ref> R. Talsorian Games currently used the trademark under license from CD Projekt SA for the tabletop role-playing game.<ref>As can be seen in copyright statement within PDFs for Cyberpunk tabletop role-playing game, i.e. https://rtalsoriangames.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/RTG-CPR-TalesoftheRed-Erratav1.0.pdf</ref>

Within the European Union, the "Cyberpunk" trademark is owned by two parties: CD Projekt SA for "games and online gaming services"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/010409258 |title=Cyberpunk |website=European Union Intellectual Property Office |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170823100025/https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/%23details/designs/001243075-0001#details/trademarks/010409258 |archive-date=2017-08-23}}</ref> (particularly for the [[Cyberpunk 2077|video game adaptation of the former]]) and by [[Sony Music]] for use outside games.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.polygon.com/2017/4/6/15208078/cyberpunk-2077-trademark-vs-copyright|title=The Witcher studio assuages concerns over 'Cyberpunk' trademark|last1=Frank|first1=Allegra|date=6 April 2017|website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]|publisher=[[Vox Media]]|access-date=14 May 2020}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Society|Literature|Speculative fiction}}
{{cols}}
* [[Corporate warfare]]
* [[Cyborg]]
* [[Digital dystopia]]
* [[Postcyberpunk]]
* [[Posthumanization]]
* [[Steampunk]]
* [[Solarpunk]]
* [[Utopian and dystopian fiction]]
{{colend}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Bould |first1=Mark |title=A Companion to Science Fiction |chapter=Cyberpunk |date=2005 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-0-470-99705-5 |pages=217–231 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470997055.ch15}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=O'Connell |first1=Hugh Charles |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Fiction 1980–2020 |chapter=Cyberpunk |date=2022 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-119-43173-2 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1002/9781119431732.ecaf0155 |language=en |editor1-last=O'Donnell |editor1-first=Patrick |editor2-last=Burn |editor2-first=Stephen J. |editor3-last=Larkin |editor3-first=Lesley}}
* {{cite book |editor1=McFarlane Anna |editor2=Schmeink Lars |editor3=Murphy Graham |title=The Routledge Companion to Cyberpunk Culture |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=9781351139885 |edition=1st |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Cyberpunk-Culture/McFarlane-Schmeink-Murphy/p/book/9781032083322 |doi=10.4324/9781351139885}}
* {{cite book |editor1=Murphy Graham |editor2=Schmeink Lars |title=Cyberpunk and visual culture |date=2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=New York |isbn=9781138062917 |edition=1st |url=https://www.routledge.com/Cyberpunk-and-Visual-Culture/Murphy-Schmeink/p/book/9781138062917}}

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Cyberpunk.1.11.06.ogg|date=2006-01-11}}
* [http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cyberpunk Cyberpunk] in ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150224002347/http://www.cyberpunked.org/cypkdir/ ''The Cyberpunk Directory'']—Comprehensive directory of cyberpunk resources
* [http://cyberpunkonline.net/cyberpunkarchive Cyberpunk Media Archive]—Archive of cyberpunk media
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100915104322/http://project.cyberpunk.ru/ The Cyberpunk Project]—A project dedicated toward maintaining a cyberpunk database, library, and other information

{{Cyberpunk}}
{{Science fiction}}
{{Fantasy fiction}}
{{Avant-garde}}
{{Film genres}}
{{Goth subculture}}
{{Authority control}}

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