The issue of processing in gaming companies is being raised in the media more and more often: high-profile cases were associated with the creators Fortnite, и . Similar suspicions also touched CD Projekt RED, because the Polish studio is known for its extremely responsible attitude to business. Managers Marcin Iwiński and Adam Badowski spoke in an interview with a journalist about how the workflow works in a team and why employees are not in danger of "burnout". Jason Schreier, author of several crunch investigations. They also denied rumors of financial problems allegedly hindering the development of Cyberpunk 2077.
Rumors of a shortage of funds began to circulate after the company about the low sales of Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. Ivinsky and Badovsky assured that the studio has enough money, although the process of switching to new technologies and the development of Cyberpunk 2077 after release was difficult. Although the game was announced in 2013, full-scale production did not start until two years later. CD Projekt RED made the mistake of transferring all employees to a new project - it would be more correct to expand the team gradually. “It's always like this in the gaming industry,” Badovsky said. “If you are moving to new technologies and working on a new project at the same time, the nightmare begins.”
The executives reached out to Schreyer themselves to explain the overtime situation. Crunches do happen in the studio, but the management does everything to ensure that they are not as grueling as during the production of the third The Witcher. According to Ivinsky and Badovsky, overtime work is completely voluntary. In many companies, recycling officially has the same status, but in reality it can be “voluntary-compulsory”. CD Projekt RED claims that this is not their case: they take this issue seriously.
“Our studio has earned a reputation as a developer that treats gamers with respect,” Ivinsky said. “We are doing everything possible for this. I would also like to be known as a company that treats its employees with respect. We explain to the team that sometimes you have to work harder - for example, during the preparation of the demo for E3 [2018] - but we wanted to treat people in a more humane way. If they need to rest, they can do it. No one will be judged for this."
Overtime allowances are provided: for work at night - 150%, on weekends - 200%. However, for many, bonuses are not able to replace time spent with family, or compensate for fatigue and other problems. In addition, employees cannot independently choose the time of vacation - it is set twice a year, after E3 and in winter.
It is impossible to completely avoid crunches, says Badovsky, but they happen only at the end of development and before important events. In addition, in the team there are always people with “unique” specialties who cannot be replaced. "Mostly it's R&D or some highly specialized tasks - for example, related to tools," he explained. In any case, the head assured, the final stage of work on Cyberpunk 2077 will not exhaust the employees as it happened before the premiere of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Many, including Schreier himself, have suggested that executives were trying to prevent rumors of rework at CD Projekt RED from spreading with such statements. The author of the article said that after the publication about the “crunches” of Anthem developers, four former employees of the Polish company wrote to him and told him about such troubles. “I could draw hundreds of parallels between Anthem’s troubled development story and Cyberpunk 2077’s even more troubled development story,” wrote one. “If you just changed the names of the studio and the game, you would get almost the same picture.”
It seems that not all current employees are satisfied with working conditions. One of them admitted to Schreier this week that the company is better than ever. At the same time, testers, sound specialists and programmers have noted that they have to work overtime when important events (such as E3) are approaching.
Cyberpunk 2077 will be shown at E3 2019. The game is being created for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but the release date is still unknown. и indicate the end of this year, but Schreyer is betting on 2020.
Source: 3dnews.ru