Cyberpunk 2077 Development Succumbing to Crunch

Bloomberg reports that CD PROJEKT RED is mandating six-day work weeks leading up to the promised November 19th release of Cyberpunk 2077. The developer previously repeatedly promised they would not put their staff through the dreaded crunch leading up to the launch of the eagerly anticipated RPG. But there was a hint earlier this year that they were backtracking on this commitment. Now this seems to be definitively the case. Bloomberg has the following internal email from studio head Adam Badowski they say was shared with them by a CDPR employee who asked not to be named:
“Starting today, the entire (development) studio is in overdrive,” Badowski wrote, elaborating that this meant “your typical amount of work and one day of the weekend.” The extra work would be paid, as required by Polish labor laws. Many other video game studios don’t pay for overtime.

“I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision,” he wrote. “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.”