CD Projekt Red Head of Studio Adam Badowski has commented on a recent report that Cyberpunk 2077 crunch time is in full effect, saying that it was “one of the hardest decisions” he has had to make.
Badowski made the comment following reports that Cyberpunk 2077 developers were facing six-day working weeks ahead of the game’s launch, despite CD Projekt Red previously claiming that the game wouldn’t face such working conditions. Badowski called the crunch a “final sprint on a project we’ve all spent much of our lives on,” and claimed that the majority of the CD Projekt Red team “understands” the need for the push.
CDPR devs will be “well compensated” for Cyberpunk 2077 crunch
https://t.co/Ie5W0O7iiv pic.twitter.com/IJBZ3IIT6m
— Adam Badowski⚡️ (@AdamBadowski) September 30, 2020
A report from Bloomberg noted that CD Projekt Red sent an email out to its staff this week, announcing studio-wide mandatory crunch. Reporter Jason Schreier noted that this included six-day work weeks, on top of overtime hours Cyberpunk 2077 developers had already been working “for months if not years now” (via Twitter).
Badowski directly responded to this report, tweeting a statement which claimed that CDPR staff would be “well compensated” for the additional hours they were putting into the game’s development. Additionally, Badowski noted that 10% of the annual profit that the company generates in 2020 would be split directly among the team.
CD Projekt Red previously admitted that it would have to backtrack on its pledge to avoid crunch leading up to Cyberpunk 2077‘s release. In a conference call in early 2020, CEO Adam Kiciński said that crunch would be required to “some degree” following the RPG’s delay. Now it seems that this has firmly become a reality, with CDPR employing mandatory overtime in order to meet its goals before launch.
Cyberpunk 2077 will release on November 18, 2020 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with the game also set to be playable on the PS5 and Xbox Series X via a free upgrade.
