Megacorporations

The megacorporations are the main powers of the new world. They have their own armies, their own laws, their own courts and their own prisons. Every city, every nation, every free state exists at their sufferance. In 2076 there are no elections that matter. There are no rights that cannot be bought and sold. There is only power — corporate power — and the people who serve it, fight it, or get crushed beneath it.

Megacorporations: How They Work

A megacorporation is not simply a large company. It is a nation without borders, one that has its own laws, its own courts, its own prisons and its own armies. It manufactures goods, controls energy supplies, runs banking systems, owns the media and deploys private military forces that in many cases dwarf the standing armies of the governments they nominally operate alongside. In 2076 the megacorporations are the true governments of the world. Everything else is administration.

The structure of a megacorp is a hierarchy so vast that most of its employees will never see the top of it. A President and Board of Directors sit above the c-suite who sit above a chain of Executive Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents, Assistant Vice Presidents and Managers, each layer controlling the one below it and answering to the one above. Theoretically advancement is based on merit. In practice the corporate world is built on nepotism, blackmail, deal-making and credit theft. Extortion and frame-ups are common. Assassination and kidnapping are not unknown. Almost every executive of any standing maintains a personal team of covert operatives, a small army of weapons specialists, computer technicians, hired guns who handle the work that cannot be put in writing. Those at the very top of the corporate world especially the board members are so insulted from consequences and risks that they dont even think about the army of specialists that protect them. Some company presidents like Saburo Arasaka maintain a more personal day to day relationship with his staff(though this is managed through his security), while others like Rosalind Meyers may never interact with a staff member below the rank of vice president.

Joining a megacorporation is fairly difficult with whole series of interviews, background checks, and corporate HR and security teams coming to meet with the prospective employees families to ensure they are a 'good fit' for the company culture. Many children go through school trying to get the best grades just for a chance at joining a megacorp when they grow up and most fall short of that goal. Some families bankrupt themselves putting their kids into corporate academies for the best shot at a life in a corporate arcology. Employment contracts bind workers to their corporations for years or entire lifetimes, with penalties for breaking them that range from financial ruin to targeted violence(though violence is fairly rare and for those who know classified corporate information. Violence costs money). The corporations do not lose personnel willingly and headhunting rival employees is a recognized profession and a deadly one.

The megacorporations did not seize power overnight. As the old national governments of the late twentieth century lost legitimacy through corruption, ecological catastrophe and economic collapse, the corporations — already multinational, already resourced on a scale that dwarfed most nations moved into the vacuum. By the early 2000s they controlled manufacturing, banking, food production, energy resources and the media. The Mediacorps in particular proved decisive: by consolidating television networks, film studios, publishing houses and news organizations under corporate ownership, they gained the ability to shape what populations believed was true, and used that power to legitimize corporate authority over the ruins of democratic governance.

What followed was the Corporate Wars; four conflicts in which the megacorporations used their private armies to settle disputes that lawyers could no longer resolve. The Fourth Corporate War was the most catastrophic. Militech and Arasaka locked into direct conflict and in doing so devastated global supply chains, destroyed cities and released a doomsday virus that collapsed the old NET. It ended with a nuclear detonation in Night City in 2023. The governments of the world clawed back a measure of power in the aftermath, forcing the megacorps to negotiate rather than simply dominate. The result was the Rule of the Faces: a legal requirement that each corporation designate its largest stockholder as a personally liable representative, answerable in law for the corporation's crimes. Whether it has produced any real accountability is a question Night City's residents have strong opinions about.

Megacorporations and Society

The relationship between the megacorporations and the people who live inside their shadow is not simple hatred, though hatred is part of it. It is something more complicated and more corrosive than that.

For those inside the corporate system the megacorp is everything. It provides housing in dedicated conapts and corporate compounds, medical care through in-house specialists and emergency services, security in neighborhoods the NCPD does not bother to patrol, and a social identity that extends from the brand on your lanyard to the district you are allowed to live in. Corporate employees exist in a managed environment designed to ensure loyalty through comfort and dependency in equal measure. The perks are real. So is the cage. Employment contracts enforce that arrangement with legal mechanisms that can ruin a life, and covert enforcement that can end one. Further entrenching this is the fact that many families maintain corporate ties. With nepotism in full force and the Corporate Academies raising students within the corporate culture these bubbles of corporate life get stronger every generation.

For those outside the system the megacorp is a weather system - something vast and indifferent that shapes the conditions of your life without acknowledging your existence. The corps police the districts they value and ignore the rest. They own the food supply, the fuel supply, the medical infrastructure and the media. They set the price of chrome and the price of a Trauma Team subscription. They decide which neighborhoods get rebuilt after a disaster and which ones get written off. The population of Night City's lower districts does not hate the megacorporations the way that requires personal animosity. They experience corporate power the way they experience pollution — as a condition of life in this city, one that occasionally kills you and that you did not choose and cannot leave. Many people resent the megacorps for one reason or another, many acknowledge that they are getting screwed or can see the million tiny ways the megacorps invade their lives. But that is a low level annoyance, the same way someone can also see the million tiny ways politics makes their life worse.

What exists in the space between resentment and resignation is the street. The Edgerunner economy, the ripperdoc underground, the gang territories, the fixers and the black markets — all of it is built in the gaps the corps leave behind, by people who decided the system was not going to include them and built something else in its place. The megacorporations know this economy exists. In Night City they have largely decided it is cheaper to tolerate it than to eliminate it. For now.

The Big 3

Three megacorporations sit above the rest. Between them they control the world's military power, its financial infrastructure, and the genetic science that keeps civilization fed. Arasaka largely controls corporate security services, high-end manufacturing (mostly weapons and cyberware), and international banking/financial services. Militech owns firepower and drone manufacturing, on top of being heavily entrenched in the government of the USA, controlling their military. Biotechnica almost literally owns the global food supply and the patent on CHOOH2. Everything else in the corporate landscape exists in relation to these three — serving them, competing at their margins, or trying very hard not to be noticed by them. At least in their own minds. In reality The Big 3 Megacorporations are powerful enough to rival the worlds biggest nations(and in some cases almost subsume them). With Militech having a very large stake in the control of the NUSA, and Arasaka having almost equal control of Japan as its own government. Only Biotechnica lacks government authority, but with their control over the CHOOH2 patent, very few nations would contest them.

Arasaka

Arasaka Corporation
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Industries: Security, Banking, Manufacturing, Technology
Motto: "A Bright Future Together."

Arasaka is the most powerful megacorporation in the world. A Japanese zaibatsu founded in the early 20th century, it grew from a manufacturing concern into a global security and financial empire under the iron will of Saburo Arasaka. At its peak Arasaka had offices in every major city on Earth, its own private army, and the most feared data security division in history.

The Night City Holocaust of 2023 dealt Arasaka a catastrophic blow. The detonation of a nuclear device atop Arasaka Tower killed thousands of employees, destroyed decades of research and obliterated their North American infrastructure. Saburo Arasaka's death in the chaos of that night — officially ruled a heart attack, unofficially the subject of endless speculation — left the corporation to his son Yorinobu who promptly handed their North American assets to Militech as part of the Unification War peace settlement.

By 2076 Arasaka has retreated behind its Japanese corporate walls and is quietly, methodically rebuilding. Their security division still operates worldwide. Their Soulkiller technology — capable of digitizing human consciousness — remains their most feared and coveted asset. And somewhere in the depths of their Tokyo headquarters the question of succession still burns.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Yorinobu Arasaka	CEO	Son of Saburo. Assumed control after the Holocaust. Controversial — viewed by traditionalists as a radical and a traitor for his concessions to Militech.
Hanako Arasaka	Director of Corporate Affairs	Saburo's daughter. Patient, calculating, Unofficial second in command at Arasaka and prominent member of the board of directors.
Adam Smasher	'Head of Security' / Assassination Division	Full body conversion Solo. Legendary and feared throughout the corporate world. Smasher is less a person than a weapon Arasaka points at problems.

Notable Events

• 2023 — The Night City Holocaust. Arasaka Tower destroyed. Saburo Arasaka dies. North American operations collapse.
• 2023-2045 — Arasaka withdraws from North America entirely during the Time of the Red. Rebuilds quietly in Japan and Asia.
• 2045 — Arasaka re-enters the North American market with a reduced but highly visible security presence.
• 2070 — Unification War peace settlement. Yorinobu cedes North American operations to Militech. Widely seen as humiliation within the corporation.
• 2076 — Arasaka operates a reduced but growing presence in Night City (still very present and powerful but no longer controlling most of the city center). Internal power struggles between Yorinobu and Hanako factions continue.

Militech

Militech International Armaments
Headquarters: Washington D.C., NUSA
Industries: Weapons Manufacturing, Private Military, Defense Contracting
Motto: "Security is Sovereignty."

Militech is America's premier weapons manufacturer and the de facto military arm of the New United States of America. Founded in the late 20th century as a defense contractor, Militech grew into a full-spectrum military megacorp under the leadership of Donald Lundee and later Rosalind Myers. They manufacture everything from handguns to aircraft carriers, and their private military forces are the most professional and well-equipped in the world.

The Unification War made Militech. Fighting on behalf of the NUSA to bring the Free States back into the fold, they emerged from the conflict as the dominant military power in North America. The peace settlement handed them Arasaka's entire North American operation, a prize that doubled their size overnight and left them in an unprecedented position of power.

In 2076 Militech sits at the top of the corporate food chain in North America. Their relationship with the NUSA government is so intertwined that it is difficult to say where one ends and the other begins.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Rosalind Myers	ex-CEO, NUSA President	NUSA President and former Militech CEO. The line between government and corporation has never been thinner. Ruthless, brilliant and completely committed to American corporate dominance.
Arthur Jenkins	Vice President of Operations	Manages day to day operations of Militech's vast corporate empire. Known for his willingness to do whatever Myers asks without question.

Notable Events

• 2023 — Militech forces clash with Arasaka in Night City during the Corporate War. The conflict ends with the Holocaust.
• 2045 — Militech becomes the primary military contractor for the NUSA as the Unification War begins.
• 2070 — Militech wins the Unification War and absorbs Arasaka's North American operations. Becomes the dominant megacorp in North America overnight.
• 2076 — Militech consolidates its gains. Night City remains officially independent but Militech's presence is felt everywhere.

Biotechnica

Biotechnica
Headquarters: Rome, Italy
Industries: Genetic Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture, Food Production
Motto: "Adapting You to the Future."

In a world where the environment has been ravaged and food supplies are unreliable, whoever controls the food supply controls everything. Biotechnica understands this better than anyone. The Italian megacorp is the world's leading genetic engineering and pharmaceutical company, holding patents on vast swathes of the global food supply, including their most famous product, CHOOH², the engineered grain that powers most of the world's vehicles.

Biotechnica operates with a lower profile than the military-industrial megacorps but their power is no less absolute. They own the science that keeps people alive and the seeds that grow the food that feeds cities. In the Badlands outside Night City their vast agricultural operations stretch for miles, tended by automated systems and guarded by private security. They also control their patents and the food supply to major cities with an iron grip. Using their subsidiaries to strangle out competition before they can take root.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Dr. Enrica Gallo	CEO	Career scientist turned corporate executive. Quietly one of the most powerful people in the world given Biotechnica's stranglehold on the global food supply.

Notable Events

• 2045 — Biotechnica expands CHOOH² production massively to fuel the Unification War effort on both sides — simultaneously supplying NUSA and Free State forces.
• 2076 — Biotechnica Flats outside Night City are among the most productive — and most heavily guarded — agricultural installations in North America.

Petrochem

Petrochem
Headquarters: Houston, NUSA
Industries: Energy, Oil, Synthfuels, Chemicals, Plastics
Motto: "Powering Tomorrow."

Energy is the lifeblood of civilization and Petrochem controls it. From oil extraction to synthfuel refineries to chemical processing plants, Petrochem's tentacles reach into every corner of the industrial world. They keep Night City's lights on, its vehicles running and its factories producing — and they charge whatever they like for the privilege.

Petrochem has significant operations in the Badlands surrounding Night City, where their refinery complexes dot the landscape and their security forces patrol aggressively against Nomad interference. Their relationship with the NUSA is complicated — they predate the current government by decades and have no particular loyalty to any flag.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Wallace Clyde	CEO	Old money Texas oil family. Has run Petrochem for fifteen years with a focus on expansion into synthfuel markets as traditional oil reserves continue to decline.

Notable Events

• 2023 — Night City Holocaust disrupts Petrochem's Night City operations. They are among the first corps to return during the reconstruction.
• 2076 — Petrochem's Badlands refinery operations are a constant source of tension with Nomad clans who see the infrastructure as an intrusion on their territory.

Trauma Team

Trauma Team International
Headquarters: Night City, NUSA
Industries: Medical Services, Emergency Extraction, Insurance
Motto: "We Get There First."

Trauma Team is the most visible megacorp on the streets of Night City. Their distinctive red and white AVs scream overhead constantly, extracting subscribers from firefights, accidents and gang violence with military precision. They are simultaneously a medical company, an insurance provider and a private military force — and they are very clear that their services extend only to paying subscribers.

If you go down in Night City and you don't have a Trauma Team card, you are on your own. The NCPD might show up eventually. Trauma Team will not. This brutally simple business model has made them enormously profitable and deeply feared.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Dr. Zander Nayent	CMO	Chief Medical Officer, Former field medic turned executive. Built Trauma Team's Night City operation from the ground up and has expanded aggressively into new markets.

Notable Events

• 2023 — The Holocaust creates unprecedented demand. Trauma Team operates continuously for 72 hours extracting corporate personnel.
• 2076 — Trauma Team subscription rates are at an all-time high. The streets have never been more dangerous.

Kang Tao

Kang Tao
Headquarters: Chengdu, China
Industries: Arms Manufacturing, Smart Weapons, Security Technology
Motto: "Precision. Power. Progress."

Kang Tao is the rising star of the arms manufacturing world. The Chinese megacorp has leveraged its expertise in smart weapon technology to carve out a significant share of markets previously dominated by Militech and Arasaka. Their weapons are cutting edge — AI-assisted targeting, smart ammunition integration and sleek designs that appeal to corporate security forces and wealthy private clients alike.

Kang Tao's aggressive expansion into Western markets has put them on a collision course with Militech. In 2076 the two corporations are engaged in a cold war of corporate espionage, proxy conflicts and market manipulation that occasionally spills over into actual violence on the streets of Night City.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Chen Wei	CEO	Visionary engineer turned corporate titan. Built Kang Tao's smart weapons division from nothing into a global force.
Mme. Xu	Head of North American Operations	Ruthless and pragmatic. Responsible for Kang Tao's aggressive push into Night City's arms market.

Notable Events

• 2045 — Kang Tao begins supplying smart weapons to Free State forces during the Unification War, establishing their reputation for quality and discretion.
• 2070 — Post-war Kang Tao moves aggressively into the power vacuum left by Arasaka's retreat from North America.
• 2076 — Kang Tao has a significant and growing presence in Night City. Their conflict with Militech is the defining corporate rivalry of the era.

Zetatech

Zetatech
Headquarters: Night City, NUSA
Industries: Cyberware, Technology, Consumer Electronics
Motto: "Chrome for Everyone."

Zetatech occupies the middle ground in the cyberware market — better than the back-alley ripperdoc specials but a long way from the premium brands. They produce affordable, reliable cyberware for the mass market and consumer electronics for everyone from corporate middle management to working-class Night City residents. Their products are everywhere precisely because they are accessible.

Critics note that Zetatech's quality control is inconsistent and their warranty service practically nonexistent. Fans note that a Zetatech arm costs a tenth of what a Raven Microcybernetics arm costs and works most of the time.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Marcus Holt	CEO	Former engineer. Built Zetatech's mass-market strategy and has resisted pressure to move upmarket, correctly identifying the mass market as where the real money is.

Notable Events

• 2023 — The Holocaust creates massive demand for replacement cyberware. Zetatech's production lines run 24 hours a day for years rebuilding Night City's chrome population.
• 2076 — Zetatech is the most commonly installed cyberware brand in Night City by a wide margin.

Dynalar Technologies

Dynalar Technologies
Headquarters: Night City, NUSA
Industries: Cyberware, Prosthetics, Medical Technology
Motto: "Built to Last."

Dynalar sits between Zetatech and Raven Microcybernetics in the cyberware market — quality products at prices that working professionals can actually afford. Their limbs and sensory augmentations are known for durability and reliability, favored by Solos who need their chrome to work when it matters and can't afford the Raven premium.

Dynalar has a strong research division and regularly produces innovations that their larger competitors quickly attempt to poach, buy or steal. In 2076 they are one of the most innovative cyberware companies in Night City despite being significantly smaller than either of their main rivals.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Dr. Yuki Tanaka	CEO	Renowned prosthetics engineer. Founded Dynalar after leaving Raven Microcybernetics over a dispute about product pricing and accessibility.

Notable Events

• 2060 — Dynalar's Neural Interface Mark IV becomes the industry standard for mid-range Netrunner decks.
• 2076 — Dynalar is the preferred cyberware brand of Night City's professional Edgerunner community.

Raven Microcybernetics

Raven Microcybernetics
Headquarters: Night City, NUSA
Industries: Premium Cyberware, Military Augmentation, Research
Motto: "The Best Chrome Money Can Buy."

Raven Microcybernetics is the prestige brand in cyberware. If you want the absolute best — the finest materials, the tightest tolerances, the most advanced technology — you go Raven. Their products are favored by corporate security elites, top-tier Solos and anyone with the eddies to afford perfection. A single Raven cyberarm costs more than most Night City residents earn in a year.

Raven maintains a small but impeccable manufacturing operation and invests heavily in research. They have no interest in the mass market. Their entire brand identity is built on exclusivity and they guard it fiercely.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Victoria Cross	CEO	Former military cyberware engineer. Has maintained Raven's position as the premium brand through a combination of relentless quality control and aggressive IP protection.

Notable Events

• 2055 — Raven's Sandevistan Mark VI becomes the gold standard for combat-grade reflex augmentation, adopted by elite military and corporate security forces worldwide.
• 2076 — Raven faces increasing pressure from Dynalar's innovations but maintains its premium market position through brand prestige and corporate contracts.

Sanroo

Sanroo Corporation
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Industries: Consumer Products, Weapons, Toys, Media Rights, Gadgets
Motto: "Cute. Deadly. Ours."

Sanroo is unlike any other megacorp on this list. Founded by ex-bankers from Fujiwara Bank and ex-designers from Tsunami Arms, Sanroo occupies a unique and deeply unsettling niche in the Night City market — consumer products, gadgets, toys and weapons specifically designed and marketed for women and children.

Their flagship product line, Hello Cutie, sells firearms with the aesthetic sensibility of a children's toy manufacturer. Pink. Sparkly. Absolutely lethal. Their advertising campaigns feature slogans like "The cutest pistol on the market!" and "So adorable they'll bleed pink!" The cognitive dissonance is entirely intentional.

Beyond weapons, Sanroo holds the media rights to a number of popular anime properties including Captain Cuttlefish and Best Friends Forever Ballistic Range Buddies, which they leverage into a vast merchandising empire. Their products are everywhere in Night City — from the toy stores of Japantown to the weapons vendors of Watson.

Do not mistake the pink packaging for weakness. Sanroo's corporate security division is as ruthless as any other corp's and their legal team is famously aggressive in protecting their intellectual property.

Leadership

Name	Position	Notes
Yuki Tanaka	CEO	Granddaughter of the original board president. As comfortable discussing quarterly earnings as she is demoing the Hello Cutie product line at trade shows. Deeply underestimated by her corporate rivals. Famous for her pink suits and aggressively chipper media appearances.
Hana Mori	Head of Product Design	The creative genius behind the Hello Cutie line. Formerly of Tsunami Arms. Turned weapons design into an art form — a very pink, very deadly art form.

Notable Events

• 2055 — Sanroo acquires the media rights to Captain Cuttlefish and Best Friends Forever Ballistic Range Buddies, establishing their dual identity as both a weapons and entertainment company.
• 2065 — The Hello Cutie product line launches. Initial corporate ridicule gives way to grudging respect when sales figures come in.
• 2070 — Sanroo expands aggressively into North American markets following the Unification War.
• 2076 — Sanroo products are ubiquitous in Night City. Their Japantown showroom is one of the most visited retail locations in Westbrook.

"The corps aren't evil. Evil implies a moral framework. The corps just do what's profitable."
— Night City MUSH is a fan project. Cyberpunk Red is property of R. Talsorian Games. Cyberpunk 2077 is property of CD Projekt Red.