In Cyberpunk 2077 the overtime culture in the video game industry, the crunch, is a controversial topic. CEO Adam Kiciński told investors that it is not as bad as the media portrays it. Now an internal email is circulating in which the CEO apologizes to the employees for these statements.
This is what the CEO officially said:
In a call with investors, CEO Kiciński said upon request:
“Regarding the topic of crunch: In reality, it is not that bad – and it never was. Of course, this is a story that the media picks up, and some people have crunched hard, but a large part of the team is not crunching at all because they are done with their work. It’s mainly about quality control, technicians, and programmers – but it’s not that hard. Of course, it has been extended a bit now, but we have feedback from the team that they are happy about the three extra weeks, so we don’t see any complaints regarding the crunch right now.”
The topic was thus downplayed and kept small during the call with investors.
The call became necessary because Cyberpunk 2077 was postponed for the 3rd time by three weeks. The new release date is December 10.
Statement was “simply bad”
Kiciński is said to have written internally:
The journalist Jason Schreier says he received an email that Kiciński sent to the employees of CD Projekt Red after the investor call:
From the bottom of my heart, I want to apologize to everyone for what I said in the investor call on Thursday. I had intended not to say anything about “crunch,” but I ended up doing so in a degrading and hurtful manner. To tell the truth: It is only now, as the stress from the delay and the call subsides, that I fully understand the extent of my words.
I have nothing to say in my defense. What I said was not just unlucky; it was simply bad. Please accept my deepest and sincerest apology for that.
I have always been and still am proud of how you put your soul and heart into what we do here every day.
This is being discussed: On reddit there is a thread about the new development. Many see the dilemma that players and developers are stuck in:
- On one hand, players hate delays – they cast a bad light on the company
- On the other hand, no one wants the employees to work themselves into misery and burnout with overtime
So in the situation CD Projekt Red is in now, there is no “perfect way out.”
But in the end, many players say: They fundamentally do not care about the crunch. As long as they get a good game.
Some critically note, however, that the previously unblemished reputation of CD Projekt Red is getting some scratches due to the discussion.
Gronkh criticizes journalist, then deletes tweet
This shows how heated the discussion is: Especially at CD Projekt Red, the discussion about crunch is particularly heated because the studio enjoys such a good reputation. While similar reports about an overtime culture at Fortnite, Anthem or Red Dead Redemption 2 caused outrage, the reports at CD Projekt Red are critically questioned by fans, the statements are relativized, and the reporter comes under scrutiny.
Journalist Jason Schreier has been intensively reporting on the internal happenings at CD Projekt Red in recent days. He is known for exposing abuses in the gaming industry in large insider reports. He advocates for game developers to band together in unions and strengthen their rights.
However, at CD Projekt Red, Schreier is often criticized. He is said to pursue his own agenda and profit from the scandals he reports on, as seen on social media.
It is said: Schreier would present things unilaterally and blow them up.
When the first reports surfaced about how severe the crunch at CD Projekt Red was, the prominent German YouTuber and streamer Gronkh commented on the matter on Twitter. The tweet has since been deleted but is still in Google’s cache.
As a result, Gronkh was criticized for this tweet. He was accused of having personal ties to CD Projekt Red. Gronkh deleted the tweet afterwards. The tweet was considered too convoluted and subjective.
Some even alleged that he was anti-Semitic. That is completely absurd.
For more than a year, there have been reports from former developers that the production of Cyberpunk 2077 is chaotic and involves a lot of overtime. Similar reports have emerged in recent days.
Developers even compared Cyberpunk 2077 to the flopped EA game Anthem:
The development of Cyberpunk 2077 is said to be as chaotic and brutal as that of Anthem.
