CD Projekt Red Says Sorry for ‘Crunch Isn’t Bad’ Comments

Following a long-standing commitment that the company would never ask nor require its staff to involve itself in ‘crunch time’, it was revealed back in September that in order to (not) meet its originally planned November release date for Cyberpunk 2077, staff members had been placed on mandatory 6-day weeks. – Now, while you can make of this what you will surrounding the ethics, it seems pretty clear that the effort has been necessary to get the game over the line for a 2020 release date.

Following comments made by CD Projekt Red co-CEO Adam Kiciński, however, it seems that he may have a little bit of groveling to do with their staff for the extra work they’ve been putting in!

CD Projekt Red Make Poorly Chosen Comments on Crunch Time

Coming following a report via ‘@jasonschreier‘, speaking at an investors meeting, CD Projekt Red co-CEO Adam Kiciński said that crunch time ‘isn’t that bad’ and, as such, they don’t see any ‘threats’ (whatever that may mean) developing because of it. It seems, however, that these comments quickly trickled down to staff members and, as such, Adam Kiciński felt it necessary to send them an apology.

What Do We Think?

Regardless of your opinion on crunch time, it seems pretty clear that these comments were ill-advised and likely quite demoralizing to staff. Nobody likes to work overtime and having those efforts seemingly diminished by management is always disheartening. And, let’s face it, a lot of people who have been employed by others have probably experienced this at some point in their career and, as such, can surely relate (angrily) to it! – Put simply, you’re exceptionally lucky if you’ve never experienced something like this before!

Again, it possibly highlights that the management at CD Projekt Red should just stick to quietly finishing off the game rather than making comments (public or otherwise) because, over the last week, they’ve done little to improve their image with fans or, seemingly here, their staff members.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!