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As I’m sure most will have noticed by now, it’s been a challenging week for Cyberpunk 2077. The tech RPG launched with quite a few bugs for PC gamers, leading both gamers and investors to clarify CD Projekt Red with questions about how the game works. They ended up pitching in this state and what their plans would be for the future. Even the staff themselves have questions, according to a new report about a company meeting where the developers clashed with the studio board about the conditions under which the game was developed and released.
According to Bloomberg, “frustrated and angry staff threw questions at the board during an internal video meeting” on Thursday. The developers asked about the crisis, unrealistic deadlines, and overtime during game development.
“An employee asked the board why it had said in January that the game was ‘complete and playable’ when that was not true, to which the board responded that it would take responsibility,” reports Bloomberg. The apparent misrepresentation by the state leadership of Cyberpunk 2077 during the announcement of its first delay was just the beginning of a long year for employees.
In September, CDPR reversed its “no-shrink mandatory” stance, telling developers that they were expected to work a total of six paid days a week before the game’s launch. After that, the game was delayed again, which the developers found out at the same time as us. Understandably, then, employees asked during Thursday’s meeting about crisis practices. “The directors said they had plans to improve production practices in the future, but did not elaborate,” says Bloomberg.
Another developer asked if the directors of CD Projekt felt it was hypocritical to play a game about corporate exploitation while waiting for their employees to work overtime. The answer was vague and evasive, ”according to Bloomberg.
Noting that they plan to change internal practices to avoid overwork in the future is a good thing, but the promises don’t mean much when, after it was put to the test, CDPR management decided in September to institute additional work days, which the Studio director Adam Badowski then called “in direct opposition to what I personally believed a while ago, that crisis should never be the answer. But we have expanded all other possible means to deal with the situation. “
It seems a given that CDPR leaders will be in a position to choose between their declared values and work overtime again. They have already promised “regular updates and fixes” on PC, which has called into question the timeline of their planned free DLCs and the eventual multiplayer mode. I’m glad the CDPR developers had the opportunity to speak their minds. I hope they continue to have that opportunity as deadlines are set for the inevitable ongoing work on Cyberpunk 2077.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Cyberpunk 2077 has already sold quite well and CDPR has decided to give employees their full share of bonuses regardless of review scores.
