Cyberpunk 2077 was heavily criticized upon release: The game had to be withdrawn from PS4 and Xbox One and disappeared from the stores. However, the bosses of CD Projekt Red are now receiving bonuses amounting to millions of US dollars. This has drawn the attention of gaming insider Jason Schreier, who mentions that some developers were disappointed with their own bonus payments.
This is how the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 went:
- Cyberpunk 2077 was by far the most anticipated game of 2020. The sci-fi dystopia was promoted for months with previews and articles. They even managed to recruit Keanu Reeves (Matrix, John Wick) as the face of the game.
- When Cyberpunk 2077 was released, players on PS4 and Xbox One were particularly disappointed with the technical state of the game on their consoles: The sci-fi epic scored 57% out of 100% on Metacritic (PS4 version). The game had to be taken off the store – despite this, Cyberpunk 2077 sold well.
- There are several lawsuits ongoing that accuse CD Projekt Red of deliberately misleading investors about the state of the game and thus depriving them of profits.
28 million $ for 5 bosses – 29.8 million for 865 employees
These are the bonuses for the managers:
- The heads of the studio, Adam Kiciński and Marcin Iwiński, receive bonuses of 6.3 million US dollars.
- The director of the game receives 4.2 million US dollars.
- In total, the 5 bosses collectively receive 28 million US dollars.
The figures come from the financial report of CD Projekt Red (via cdprojektred.com).
What do the regular employees get? US journalist Jason Schreier has made a name for himself through numerous insider reports. Schreier has once again gathered additional information from employees of CD Projekt Red.
As Schreier reports, regular employees of CD Projekt Red receive bonuses ranging from 5,000 $ to 20,000 $, which they have communicated to him. The smaller salaries fall between 5,000 $ and 9,000 $, while employees who have been there longer receive bonuses between 15,000 $ and 20,000 $.
Some employees were allegedly disappointed as they had expected higher bonuses after 5 years of working on the game. Cyberpunk 2077 was the only game that CD Projekt Red developed during that time.
According to Schreier, the 865 employees together receive a total of 29.8 million US dollars. This means that what the bosses receive among themselves is divided among 865 people.
CD Projekt Red CEO: “The higher the profit, the higher the bonus”
This is what the bosses say: In a statement at an investor conference, CEO Adam Kiciński said this is a similar bonus as before; nothing has changed. It amounts to about 20%, and roughly half of that goes to the management board.
The pay of the managers is directly linked to the company’s revenue. This is the money the company has earned.
The higher the profit, the higher the bonus. It is stated this way in the contracts. You can’t say more about it.
Journalist sees reasons for Cyberpunk problems in management
This is the criticism: The injustice that Schreier implies in his report is that the “normal developers” at CD Projekt Red did a good job. However, the management, with its tight schedule, ensured that the release was tainted.
If CD Projekt Red had taken more time with Cyberpunk 2077, especially for PS4 and Xbox One, the profits would have been higher, and the regular employees would have benefited more, Schreier suggests.
Schreier also mentions Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick: He yielded after strong criticism of his excessive bonuses and decided to forgo half of his entitled pay. Kotick was criticized for taking so much money despite Activision Blizzard laying off numerous employees.
However, Schreier notes that he has heard from employees that things are now improving in Poland; his reporting has triggered some changes. They have now increased the pay for the lowest-paid employees, such as those in quality assurance and internal game testers.
Despite all the implied criticism that Schreier expresses towards the managers, it must be acknowledged that they have drawn consequences from the poor test ratings of Cyberpunk 2077 and that the bonuses for the employees were not cut just because the game was not the expected critical darling.
Originally, the bonuses were tied to the ratings on Metacritic:
Cyberpunk 2077 wanted to link bonuses to Metacritic ratings, now changes that
