Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that CD Projekt Red is ordering mandatory six-day workweeks until Cyberpunk 2077 hits shelves. This immediately became a huge story on social media, once again bringing up the conversation of crunch in the game development workplace.
Studio Head Adam Badowski has responded to the reports, stating on Twitter:
“These last 6 weeks are our final sprint on a project we’ve all spent much of our lives on. Something we care for deeply. The majority of the team understands that push, especially in light of the fact that we’ve just sent the game to cert and every day brings us visibly closer to shipping a game we want to be proud of. This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, but everyone is well compensated for every extra hour they put in. And, like in recent years, 10% of the annual profit our company generates in 2020 will be split directly among the team.”Ā
https://t.co/Ie5W0O7iiv pic.twitter.com/IJBZ3IIT6m
— Adam Badowskiā”ļø (@AdamBadowski) September 30, 2020
What’s even more perplexing about this situation is that CD Projekt Red’s Marcin IwiÅski spoke with Kotaku in 2019 and assured everyone that the studio was committed to avoid crunch mentality with Cyberpunk 2077.
In an internal email sent to employees (via Bloomberg), Badowski acknowledged that this decision contradicts the studio’s stance on crunch:
āI take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision. I know this is in direct opposition to what weāve said about crunch. Itās also in direct opposition to what I personally grew to believe a while back — that crunch should never be the answer. But weāve extended all other possible means of navigating the situation.ā
While many people online have suggested another delay for Cyberpunk 2077 so the studio could alleviate the aforementioned mandatory crunch, the game is still scheduled to release on November 19th, 2020.
What are your thoughts on Badowski’s response? Would you be fine with CD Projekt Red delaying Cyberpunk 2077 again? Let us know in the comments below.
