In the world of Cyberpunk 2077, corporations and megacorporations are who hold the real power, and there are few megacorporations as big and powerful as Militech. By the time CD Projekt RED’s upcoming open world RPG will begin, Militech will already have been around for nearly a century, which means the company has gone through a rather interesting journey in all the time it’s been around. Presumably, it’ll have a big role to play in the game, seeing as it’s been had a pretty major presence in the Cyberpunk lore up until this point. If you’re not familiar with Cyberpunk lore, however, don’t worry- here, we’re going to talk about everything that you need to know about Militech.
Interestingly enough, when the company was first founded, it wasn’t even called Militech. No, Italian weapons designer and manufacturer Antonio Luccessi named the company Armatech-Luccessi International when he first started it, and later on, when it would get its first big break, it would not be under his leadership. Armatech was in the running for landing a big weapons contract with the United States military at one point in 1998, at a time when, following major national unpheavals, the nation’s leadership was looking to bring some stability back into proceedings.
Armatech’s weapons were well designed and reasonably priced, and caught the eye of one General Donald Lundee in particular. However, Antonion Luccessi’s talent for designing weapons was not enough to take the company over the line. In spite of Lundee’s insistence that they get into business with Armatech, the US military went in another direction- which would prove to be a costly mistake, and would eventually take them back Armatech years later.
Before that, however, not long after Armatech’s failed attempt at selling their weapons to the US military, General Donald Lundee resigned from his position, and at the request of Antonio Luccessi, became the CEO of Armatech. Lundee, as someone who had been in the military for years and years of his life and knew the ins and outs of the system, knew exactly what the issues were that were plaguing its weapons, and combined with Luccessi’s talent for designing weapons that were durable yet cheap, the General planned on shaping Armatech into the perfect military contracting company.
In 2004, the United States military would come to realize that it had made a pretty major mistake not going with Armatech as its arms manufacturer. The weapons that the military had gone with turned out to be the absolute worst choice for them and cost them dearly, which meant that they did, after all, wind up getting into business with Armatech after all. That finally proved to be the company’s big break, and following that, there was no stopping them. With this success also came a new name, to go with the new image and personality the company had built for itself, going from being known as Armatech to becoming Militech International Armaments.
By 2020, Militech had become one of the largest megacorporations of the world and was known as the largest weapons manufacturer across the globe. The company manufactured and sold weapons to dozens upon dozens of nations, on top of hundreds of corporations and megacorporations. On top of that, however, the early 2020s brought more than just widespread success for Militech- eventually, they also brought a major conflict with them.
That’s because of the Fourth Corporate War, which saw the two rival corporations OTEC and CINO hiring Militech and Arasaka Corporation respectively as not only their weapons manufacturers, but essentially their private armies as well. The conflict between the two companies quickly grew fierce, and ended in a total defeat for Arasaka, including the death of their CEO, their permissions to operate in the US being revoked (only to be reinstated many years later), the destruction of their headquarters in Night City thanks to a nuke, and they themselves being blamed for the nuclear explosion (even though it was Militech who was behind it).
Interesting sude note here- none other than Johnny Silverhand, who will be played by Keanu Reaves in the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, also briefly fought alongside Militech during the war when their interests aligned, and it was around this time that he “died” (or at least disappeared completely from public view for a long, long time) after being gunned down by the Arasaka employed cyborg known as Adam Smasher.
Back to Militech- though Arasaka were the clear losers in the war, Militech were not necessarily the winners. The Fourth Corporate War was a major, large scale conflict, and in its aftermath, there were many who believed that it was Militech that was responsible for the nuclear explosion in Night City, not Arasaka, and demanded that the United States investigate the issue and take necessary action against the company (on top of that, Militech had, throughout its history, gathered a reputation for indulging in activities such as assassinations and more). US President Elizabeth Kress, however, had different plans.
Rather than investigating and prosecuting Militech, she nationalized it, with the United Stats government taking complete control of the company and its assets, while many of the company’s top executives and officials were given high ranking positions in the US Department of Defense. Over the years, Militech continued to be a major megacorporation and one of the largest weapons manufacturers of the world, and in the year 2077, when Cyberpunk 2077 begins, that it still very much true.
By 2077, Militech has been working with the United States and its defense and police services for years, providing them with weapons and even military and combat training, while the company has also managed to regain some (but not all) of its independence after having been nationalized by the United States government decades ago.
What role Militech will end up playing in Cyberpunk 2077 and how important they will be to the larger story remains to be seen, but it’s a pretty good bet that they will factor in quite significantly. Militech and Arasaka have been at the centre of some of the biggest stories in Cyberpunk lore, and it seems like CDPR are definitely taking some cues from that stuff. We do know that Johnny Silverhand is going to be an important character in the story, and he has a history (one way or another, and to varying degrees) with both Militech and Arasaka, so the dots there are pretty easy to connect, if you ask us.
Thankfully, even with the recent delay, it won’t be too long before we get answers to all of our questions. Unless Cyberpunk 2077 gets delayed again, CDPR’s RPG is going to launch on December 10, and hopefully close out the year with a bang.
