In May 2019, Cyberpunk 2077 developers CD Projekt Red promised staff that there would be no mandatory crunch as the game neared completion. A month later, the same promise was made. Now? A report says they’re being told it’s time to crunch.
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In a move that will surprise few, least of all followers of the exploits of capitalism in the pandemic age, the studio’s previously volunteer-only crunch policy—itself an issue given the influence of peer pressure and expectations—has now reportedly become mandatory, as CDPR rush to get the game’s bugs squished before Cyberpunk’s scheduled release date in November.
According to Bloomberg, the change in policy was sent to staff in an email, and means everyone was now expected to be completing “your typical amount of work and one day of the weekend.” That extra work will, at least in this case, be paid (many other studios do not pay extra for periods of crunch).
Addressing the fact this goes directly against promises made only a year ago, studio head Adam Badowski writes in the email:
