Cyberpunk 2077 News: Despite initial promises, CD Projekt Red goes into a mandatory crunch period

Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most hotly anticipated titles of 2020, and the gaming community has been waiting for it with bated breath. CD Projekt Red has emerged as one of the most premier AAA game studios in recent years.

The back-to-back success of The Witcher franchise shot the Polish developers into the mainstream as they came to be known for their dedication to providing polished AAA games.

CD Projekt Red, all the way back in 2013, announced their title Cyberpunk 2077 as an upcoming venture. However, the game was shelved for later, and the gaming community hadn't heard much about Cyberpunk 2077 since then.

However, post-Witcher 3, CDPR announced that Cyberpunk 2077 was back in development and gearing up for an April 2020 release (announced later). The game was pushed back to November of 2020, possibly in an attempt to eliminate the need for an excruciating mandatory crunch period.

CD Projekt Red announces mandatory crunch with 6-day work weeks for Cyberpunk 2077

Many developers on Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most hotly anticipated games of 2020, have been working overtime hours for months if not years now. But this call for six-day work weeks, "mandatory" crunch, directly reneges on what CDPR's bosses told me last year.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 29, 2020

In an interview with video game journalist Jason Schreier, top executives at CDPR assured the gaming community that the studio wouldn't go into a period of mandatory crunch.

However, in a recent report by Bloomberg, it was revealed that a studio-wide email was sent out that announced 6-day work weeks. Essentially, CD Projekt Red, in preparation for the game's launch in about six weeks, is going into crunch.

Mandatory crunch has become one of the biggest issues that currently plague AAA video game development. Several major studios and publishers have faced public criticism and outrage due to excruciating crunch periods leading to a toxic work environment.

I think what a lot of folks fail to understand is that "crunch" isn't just a few weeks of overtime here and there. It's a culture, an atmosphere, a top-down expectation. Nights and weekends are the norm. And you certainly aren't being paid like a banker or Silicon Valley engineer

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 30, 2020

Most famously, Rockstar Games came under a lot of fire for an extremely taxing crunch period during the development of Red Dead Redemption II.

Given that Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most anticipated titles of the year, CDPR naturally want the product to be as polished as it needs to be before release but at the cost of an excruciating crunch period.

Crunch is too complicated and nuanced a subject for Twitter soundbites. It comes in many different forms and hits people in many different ways. It's pressure, it's culture, it's people giving you dirty looks because you're not being a team player by going home to your kids.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 29, 2020