CD Projekt Red Want to Avoid Unreasonable Crunch for Cyberpunk 2077
“Crunch,” has been a problem in the video game industry for quite some time. However, it is a problem which has been particularly highlighted in recent months. Numerous incidents of reported overworking and extreme long hours at several major game studios, including Epic Games, have led to some studios, like Respawn, publicly stating that they would have slower content release schedules to avoid harming the wellbeing of their staff. CD Projekt Red has now joined that group as well. The studio has promised that Cyberpunk 2077 will have a “more humane” crunch period compared to that of The Witcher 3.
CD Projekt Red Promises “More Humane” Demands on Staff for Cyberpunk 2077 Crunch
When The Witcher 3 was coming to the end of its developments, back in 2017, staff complaints about crunch surfaced at CD Projekt Red. Like many game developers, the staff had been forced to work extremely long hours in order to finish the game on time during a final crunch period. Since then, the issue of crunch has become much more widely known about among the public. Several major studios, including Rockstar and Epic Games, have faced serious accusations of overworking their staff, for example.
CD Projekt Red’s co-founder, Marcin Iwiński, once defended the practice of crunch during development in 2017. However, he appears to have reassessed his position since then. In a new interview with Kotaku, Iwiński explained that the studio plans to do things differently. CD Projekt Red will use a “non-obligatory crunch policy,” which will be treat their staff more respectfully.
“We’ve been working toward it for some time already,” he explains; “We’ve been communication clearly to people that of course there are certain moments where we need to work harder – like I think the [2018] E3 demo is a pretty good example – but we want to be more humane and treat people with respect. If they need to take time off, they can take time off. Nobody will be frowned upon if this will be requested.”
He went on to promise that the Cyberpunk 2077 crunch period will be a better experience than that of The Witcher 3. His comments suggest that the game is finally nearing the completion of its long development. However, he doesn’t give any specific indication of a release date, of course. The game is set to be one of the biggest headline appearances at E3, next month.