Arasaka: History, Saburo and the Tower Explained
The short version
Arasaka is the Tokyo-based megacorporation behind security, banking and weapons in the Cyberpunk setting, run for decades by Saburo Arasaka. It is the main antagonist corp of Edgerunners and the one that owns the Relic chip in Cyberpunk 2077.
On this page
Timeline#
- 1915Sasai Arasaka founds the company in Japan.
- 1960Saburo Arasaka takes over leadership; the bank's founding is tied to his takeover.
- 2021The Fourth Corporate War starts. Arasaka is hired by CINO, Militech by OTEC.
- 2023A nuclear device destroys Arasaka's Night City headquarters on 20 August. In 2077 canon Johnny Silverhand carries out the attack.
- 2070After the Unification War, Arasaka returns to Night City and builds the new tower on the old site.
- 2075-2076Edgerunners: David Martinez, a student at Arasaka Academy, becomes an edgerunner and ends up in the tower.
- 2077The Relic heist at Konpeki Plaza opens Cyberpunk 2077.
What Arasaka does#
Arasaka runs three core businesses: Arasaka Security, Arasaka Bank and Arasaka Manufactures. In the 2020 sourcebooks the company is worth about 475 billion eurodollars and employs around a million people. Those are 2020-edition figures, not 2077 ones.
Security is the money-maker and the face. Black-uniformed Arasaka guards are sold to other corporations, and the company also leases bodyguards, cameras and turrets. It makes weapons and cyberware too, so half the chrome on a Night City ripperdoc's shelf has its name stamped on it. You can hate the company and still be wearing it.
Saburo Arasaka#
Saburo is the old man at the top. Born in 1919, flew for the Imperial Japanese Navy, held the chairman's seat while his son Kei was CEO in 2020. In 2077 he is very old.
Two of his plans matter for the stories. One is mind preservation: Soulkiller, and later the Relic. The other is a long feud with Militech's Donald Lundee, which is personal as much as commercial. Our read: men who plan to outlive their own deaths tend to take grudges with them.
The Fourth Corporate War and the tower#
In the tabletop timeline, the Fourth Corporate War ran from 2021 to 2025. It began as a fight between two ocean-business firms, CINO and OTEC. Arasaka and Militech were hired to fight for them, then kept fighting each other after the clients stopped mattering. The Cyberpunk RED rulebook sets itself after the war, but its version of events differs from the earlier Cyberpunk V3.0 telling.
The Night City end of it is the 20 August 2023 bombing. In the Cyberpunk 2020 material, a Militech-backed team led by Morgan Blackhand and Johnny Silverhand goes into the Arasaka Towers to wreck the Soulkiller project and pull out Alt Cunningham. In Cyberpunk 2077, Johnny is the man credited with the attack. Same event, different framing: the 2020 account has Militech around him, the game's database entry names only Johnny.
The tower that stands in 2077 is a rebuild. Arasaka came back to Night City in 2070 after the Unification War and put up a 620-meter skyscraper on the old site, leaving part of the original as a memorial. Yes, they built the new HQ on the crater. Corporate memory is long.
Arasaka in Edgerunners#
Edgerunners runs from 2075 to 2076. David Martinez studies at Arasaka Academy, Lucy hates the company, and Adam Smasher is introduced as its head of security. The crew's jobs mostly target Arasaka assets, which is a bad habit with a worse ending.
Arasaka in Cyberpunk 2077#
The game opens with a job to steal the Relic from Arasaka. In play, Arasaka runs the Arasaka Waterfront in Watson, and the tower dominates the skyline.
The two Arasakas you can actually work with are Goro Takemura, Saburo's bodyguard, and Saburo's daughter Hanako. Skip the idea that the family is a monolith. It is a boardroom with a knife drawer.
Spoilers Arasaka spoilers: the list and the heist
In Edgerunners, David was on an Arasaka list of people with unusually high cyberware tolerance, which makes him useful as a test subject. The finale puts David and Smasher at Arasaka Tower, and the fight ends in the memorial park out front.
In the game, V and Jackie watch Yorinobu murder his father Saburo during the heist and frame it as poisoning. The Relic ends up in V's head and carries Johnny's engram. One ending has V siding with Hanako, which leads to Yorinobu being removed and the Relic destroyed.
Fixer's notes#
Opinion: Arasaka is a cleaner villain than Militech because it never pretends to be anything else. Militech sells you freedom and bills you for it. Arasaka just sends the invoice.
Edgerunners makes the point quietly, and it hurts.
If you only know Arasaka from the game, read up on the Fourth Corporate War, then the Night City Holocaust. That gives you the background Johnny never explains. For Arasaka between 2025 and 2070, the Cyberpunk RED core book is the place to look. Also worth a read: the Blackwall and cyberpsychosis.
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Questions people ask#
What does Arasaka do?
It runs three core businesses: Arasaka Security, Arasaka Bank and Arasaka Manufactures. It also makes weapons and cyberware, so half the chrome on a Night City ripperdoc's shelf has its name stamped on it.
Where is Arasaka based?
Tokyo. It is a Tokyo-based megacorporation, run for decades by Saburo Arasaka, and it has a tower in Night City.
Who bombed Arasaka Tower?
On August 20, 2023, a nuclear device destroyed the Arasaka Towers in Night City. The Cyberpunk 2020 material has a Militech-backed team led by Morgan Blackhand and Johnny Silverhand, while Cyberpunk 2077 credits Johnny.
Is Arasaka the same as Militech?
No, they are rivals. Saburo Arasaka and Militech's Donald Lundee have a long feud that is personal as much as commercial, and it fed the Fourth Corporate War.
Is Arasaka in Edgerunners?
Yes. David Martinez studies at Arasaka Academy, Lucy hates the company, and Adam Smasher is its head of security.