CD Projekt Red orders a mandatory 6-day work week leading up to the November release of Cyberpunk 2077 (source: Bloomberg). Employees of the Polish studio understandably have a lot of work to do. But this new work schedule directly contradicts an earlier promise by the studio to keep ‘crunch’ to a minimum.
Cyberpunk 2077 crunch time engaged
Employees working on Cyberpunk 2077 are going to have to work six days a week leading up to the Cyberpunk 2077 launch. This directly contradicts CD Project Red’s earlier promise to refrain from Cyberpunk 2077 crunch. An anonymous source from inside the company shared an email sent by studio head Adam Badowski.
In it, Badowski takes full responsibility for the apparent dick move. And we say ‘dick move’ because the company has specifically promised not to invoke the crunch… Multiple times!
Starting today, the entire studio is in overdrive [which means] your typical amount of work and one day of the weekend. I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision. I know this is in direct opposition to what we’ve said about crunch. It’s also in direct opposition to what I personally grew to believe a while back — that crunch should never be the answer. But we’ve extended all other possible means of navigating the situation.
Naturally, as European law states, overtime has to be paid too. So more work does equal a bigger paycheck.
State of the industry
CD Projekt Red is probably one of the most consistently brilliant and beloved game studios. Though despite their mainstream appeal, asking a lot from their employees is something they are known to do. For the last few years, this mild form of worker exploitation is being frowned upon more and more.
But CD Projekt Red is not the only bad guy here. As the gaming community is growing, so is it’s appetite for grand, polished masterpieces. Of course, building a masterpiece takes time. With Cyberpunk 2077 already postponed twice and with next-gen consoles on the horizon, sadly the company feels it has no other option than to opt for crunch to finish Cyberpunk 2077 in time and deliver a masterpiece quality product.
Let us hope CD Projekt Red’s employees get to enjoy the huge succes Cyberpunk 2077 will undoubtedly generate in the end.