The recent Cyberpunk 2077 delay announcement saw CD Projekt Red reveal that the game’s release date would be pushed back until December 2020, but it may be even more disappointing for the game’s developers. A Cyberpunk 2077 revenue sharing program for developers was revealed earlier this year and the most recent release date delay could result in a smaller overall bonus.
Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most anticipated games coming out this year. Its development has been somewhat troubled, ultimately resulting in CD Projekt Red Head of Studio Adam Badowski reaffirming the company’s yearly plan to split 10% of its 2020 revenue with company employees. However, given that Cyberpunk 2077 will now be releasing later in the year, this bonus would therefore not be as substantial given that the 21-day release date delay has reduced this period by three weeks.
How the Cyberpunk 2077 delay could impact CD Projekt Red’s bonuses
Polish indie developer Mikolaj “Sos Sosowski” Kaminski highlighted the issue on Twitter, alleging that CD Projekt Red “f***ed all the Cyberpunk devs over” by pushing the game’s release date back by three weeks. According to his calculations, the 10% bonus for 2020 revenue would amount to €3,166 for each of the company’s 1,111 employees based on an estimation of €100 million in profit for the game’s launch — and the Cyberpunk 2077 delay could make that bonus even smaller.
https://twitter.com/Sosowski/status/1321446492746469376
https://twitter.com/Sosowski/status/1311315295504666624
The current minimum wage in Poland is €610.80/month; this makes the 2020 revenue sharing bonus equal to roughly five months of pay for anyone minimum wage. However, Glassdoor’s reporting indicates that CD Projekt Red salaries currently range from €1,334/month at the lower end to €44,102/month for the highest-paid employees; this would make the revenue sharing bonus equal to roughly 2 1/2 months of salary for the lowest-paid employees. It should be noted that Glassdoor’s figures do not necessarily take into account other benefits such as company stock options.
However, Sosowski’s comments do not factor in that CD Projekt Red’s profit-sharing bonuses are annual. This means that profits from Cyberpunk 2077 could be included in 2021’s bonuses for the CDPR team, though this would likely be dependent on the team who worked on the game remaining with CDPR until next year’s bonuses are delivered.
Cyberpunk 2077’s latest release date delay has been rough for developers, some of whom have received harassment and death threats. The potential for losing out on a portion of a promised bonus would be yet another blow to the developers working on a game mired in controversy.
We’ve reached out to CD Projekt Red for comment and will update this story when we receive a response.
