CD Projekt RED breaks promise and enforces mandatory Cyberpunk 2077 crunch

CD Projekt RED will be enforcing mandatory Cyberpunk 2077 crunch time to finish the upcoming RPG by its November release date. 

Previously, the Polish development studio has started that there would be no mandatory Cyberpunk 2077 crunch time for the hundreds of developers working on the title. The mandatory overtime was revealed to employees truth a mass email on Monday – reported by Bloomberg.

Last year, the bosses of CD Projekt Red approached me for an interview. They wanted to announce that for Cyberpunk 2077, they would be avoiding mandatory crunch.

This week, they sent out an email to staff announcing studio-wide mandatory crunch. News: https://t.co/s4OI5rUiQq

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 29, 2020

Starting today, the entire studio is in overdrive,” wrote CD Projekt Red boss Adam Badowski.

“I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision. I know this is in direct opposition to what we’ve said about crunch. It’s also in direct opposition to what I personally grew to believe a while back – that crunch should never be the answer. But we’ve extended all other possible means of navigating the situation.”

After Bloomberg spilled the crunchy beans, Badowski took to Twitter to explain that the next six weeks of mandatory Cyberpunk 2077 crunch will be “well compensated”, a fact that is actually required by companies in Poland anyway.

“These last six weeks are our final sprint on a project we’ve all spent much of our lives on. Something we care for deeply. The majority of the team understands that push, especially in light of the fact that we’ve just sent the game to cert and every day brings us visibly closer to shipping a game we want to be proud of,” Badowski wrote on Twitter.

“This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, but everyone is well compensated for every extra hour they put in. And, like in recent years, 10 per cent of the annual profit our company generates in 2020 will be split directly among the team.”

https://t.co/Ie5W0O7iiv pic.twitter.com/IJBZ3IIT6m

— Adam Badowski?? (@AdamBadowski) September 30, 2020

Cyberpunk 2077 has already seen numerous delays, a fact that caused the tie-in Xbox One X Limited Edition bundle to release earlier this year instead of alongside the game this November.  Cyberpunk 2077 crunch will be enforced to avoid another delay.

The game is currently coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Google Stadia.