Although the dystopian future of Cyberpunk 2077 might seem further away than ever to fans after announcements of the Cyberpunk 2077’s delay until September, parts of that future might be already happening now. In a troubling statement, developer CD Projekt Red announced that it would expect its employees to crunch and work even longer hours to ensure that the game launches on time.
To elaborate, the “crunch period” in video game development often refers to when game development teams are forced to work much longer hours for an extended period of time, at the cost of their physical and mental health. Oftentimes, such crunch periods take place at the end of development, when developers are racing to meet their deadlines. In light of the recent delay, fans are concerned for the well-being of CD Projekt Red employees. Several fans have even sent memes encouraging the developer to take its time.
In a conference call transcript that was published on the CD Projekt Red website, joint CEO Adam Kiciński admitted that the developer would be instituting a crunch period on the Cyberpunk 2077 team. Amidst his claims that the developer did its best to “limit” such working conditions and be “reasonable” about this overtime work, Kiciński stated that crunch was “necessary” because they were in the final stages of development.
CD Projekt Red’s decision to make its workers put in longer hours comes as no surprise to those familiar with the developer’s production process. The developer had even previously addressed such concerns by promising that crunch on Cyberpunk 2077 would be more “humane” than it had been during development of The Witcher 3. Even participants at the conference call noticed similarities in the two games’ development cycles, as one person asked how the Cyberpunk delay compared t0 The Witcher 3’s delay.
CD Projekt Red’s decision to delay Cyberpunk 2077 is correct, but is being done for the wrong reasons. While it is important to focus on a game’s smaller details and intricacies, such focus should never be placed at the expense of one’s health. However, it is difficult to institute reform when crunch is such a systemic issue in game development. Even major developers like Rockstar Games and Hideo Kojima continue to crunch before release. Ultimately, CD Projekt Red should place more value in its workers over profit, and attempt to eliminate crunch than continue to contribute to the problem.
Source: CD Projekt Red
