With Cyberpunk 2077 suffering a 21-day delay possibly due to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ports, issues with crunch have become a hot-button topic at Polish studio CD Projekt Red. On a recent investor’s call, joint CEO Adam Kicinski said the extra crunch period is “not that bad–and never was.” Kicinski has since walked this sentiment back in an email to staff.
On the investor’s call, Kicinski said that some members of the development team have been “crunching heavily,” but most have finished their work. Kicinski also noted that the issue of crunch is “not that bad” because some employees are happy with the extra three weeks.
“Regarding crunch. Actually, it’s not that bad–and never was,” Kicinski said. “Of course it’s a story that has been picked up by the media, and some people have been crunching heavily, but a large part of the team is not crunching at all since they have finished their work; it’s mostly about Q&A and engineers, programmers–but it’s not that heavy. Of course, it will be extended a bit, but we have feedback from the team; they’re happy about the extra three weeks, so we don’t see any threats regarding crunch.”
However, Kicinski has since realized that these comments came across as “demeaning and harmful.” According to an email sent to CDPR staff obtained by Bloomberg News reporter Jason Schreier, the joint CEO said his Cyberpunk 2077 crunch comments were “utterly bad.”
“I had not wanted to comment on crunch, yet I still did, and I did it in a demeaning and harmful way,” Kicinski told staff in an alleged email. “What I said was not even unfortunate, it was utterly bad.”
Wow, CD Projekt Red's Adam Kiciński just sent out an email to staff (passed to me) apologizing for these comments. "I had not wanted to comment on crunch, yet I still did, and I did it in a demeaning and harmful way… What I said was not even unfortunate, it was utterly bad."
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 29, 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 was pushed from its November 19 release date despite going gold in October. A gold master typically means the game has passed certification and is ready to begin being manufactured. But CDPR clarified that while Cyberpunk 2077 is ready to go on PC and next-gen consoles, the team needs the extra three weeks for the day zero patch.
Cyberpunk 2077 drops on December 10 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S / Series X. Hit up our Cyberpunk 2077 preorder guide to learn about the bonuses and editions available. For those curious, here are all of Cyberpunk 2077’s delays.
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