Cyberpunk 2077 is being developed with “crunch,” after saying they wouldn’t

We put it at the top of the list worst video game stories of 2019. The crunch even in the soup. The idea before delaying the game is better to have employees working overtime and days that should be non-working and unpaid. Something that may be unavoidable in development but is not about minimizing. Cyberpunk 2077 is developing with that mindset.

Shortly after announcing the delay of Cyberpunk 2077 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Google Stadia and PC at September 17, CD Projekt started a press conference. Among the questions came how it will affect workers and their response was that they will ask them to work beyond their working hours but that they have a plan so that it is not something lasting.

No products found.

Cyberpunk 2077 with crunch, despite a commitment that it will not happen

Months ago they insisted that Cyberpunk 2077 would not resort to crunch, but now they do not hide it and try to hide it. And it does not seem that it is something that has just happened but that it is common in the company itself. At least that's what developer Tom Grochowiak, who worked on the first The Witcher, says.

The really creepy thing about CD Projekt RED is how it isolates its employees. It is one of the biggest game companies in Poland if not the biggest. But you never see its developers at national industry conventions or meetings. They organize semi-mandatory attendance company parties during those days so that employees don't go. If anyone knows a current worker at CD Pojekt RED it's because they knew him before he was hired or because they were working alongside him there. And you don't expect to see that person much outside the company. They have as an internal philosophy the idea that they are the only company making true AAA in the country and all the critics are either jealous or untalented. The CEO, when asked about firing almost the entire original Witcher team, said it was because they had to get rid of the divas. I was lucky and resigned a month before the layoffs. The other divas went on and started their companies. They joined other studios and made AAA. That’s why you see so many Polish games with “from the creators of The Witcher.” CD Projekt RED has been on crunch for several months [before announcing the delay of Cyberpunk 2077]. Some workers have probably been there for more than a year.

Tom Grocchowiak ex-developer of CD Projekt Red

Labor problems at CD Projekt RED

After all this, it seems that the situation for workers who are giving up their time and life to make Cyberpunk 2077 is worse than imagined. But it says more about the company that, after having had the game eight years in development since its announcement, after a long pre-production and with demonstrable experience in the AAA, they have to resort to crunch constantly along with labor abuses.

And we imagine that this will not affect the sales of the game. Cyberpunk 2077 will sell millions of copies, has to Keanu Reeves and many will forget these stories in order to play this game quietly. Ironically, based on the narrative aspect whose main points are the fight against the abuse of large companies on workers and society.

Source: Gamespot