CD PROJEKT RED Mandates Six-Day Work Weeks Ahead of Cyberpunk 2077’s Launch

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erek

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"However, Bloomberg gathered from anonymous sources that Adam Badowski, Game Director for Cyberpunk 2077 at CD PROJEKT RED, sent out the following email to the entire team earlier this week. As you can read below, it basically mandates a (paid) extra day of work during the weekend.

Starting today, the entire (development) studio is in overdrive. [It's] your typical amount of work and one day of the weekend.
I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision. 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.
Earlier this morning, Badowski shared a statement on Twitter responding to the aforementioned report.

These last 6 weeks are our final sprint on a project we've all spent much of our lives on. Something we care for deeply. The majority of the team understands that push, especially in light of the fact that we've just sent the game to cert and every day brings us visibly closer to shipping a game we want to be proud of. This is one of the hardest decisions I've had to make, but everyone is well compensated for every extra hour they put in. And, like in recent years, 10% of the annual profit our company generates in 2020 will be split directly among the team.
Clearly, CD PROJEKT RED executives do not wish to delay Cyberpunk 2077 a third time. The open world game was originally meant to launch on April 16th, as announced on Microsoft's E3 2019 stage, right after Keanu Reeves was revealed to be playing Johnny Silverhand. That date later became September 17th, and now it's November 19th - incidentally, also the release date of Sony's PlayStation 5 in Europe and many other countries."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...lisher-orders-6-day-weeks-ahead-of-game-debut
 
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Im not really sorry or surprised. When a big project is rolling out in my business, its "All hands on deck". typically 2 weeks prior its buttoning up, and triple checking and the 2 weeks after is cleaning up any mess thats made. Thats how it works. I'm sure their employees are being compensated and You should have a generally clear schedule when this happens.
 
Six day work weeks are pretty common in most industries, at least for short periods of time.

What matters is how long you do it, how long the days are, and how well you incentivise the effort from your staff.

Crunch time can be very rewarding when it's brief, targetted, and well-compensated. Crunch time becomes more and more counterproductive the longer it lasts, making your staff less and less happy to put in that extra effort. Crunch has a tendency to be a symptom of shitty management too.
 
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It also becomes more benevolent to make it optional.
Some people would simply refuse because they want their weekends.

But then again, this is "Cyberpunk." This is sorta a BIG DEAL, and the honor and prestige of having worked on it will forever live onwards.
To be one of the people who worked on this project means you can basically live the rest of your life happily, knowing that you did something glorious.

Money, power, fame, girls, guys, whatever you want, there are certain intangible rewards to having worked on Cyberpunk 2077.
So I'm sure this isn't the same as being forced to work on "Corporate Office Management Software 2021" for six days a week.
 
My guess: They are being pressured by their financiers to not miss the Xmas/Kwanza/Diwali/Festivus season in the middle of a Covid pandemic gripping the world looking for escapism......plus they've delayed it 3 times already right, who knows maybe they can't make payroll but my guess is...its that huge holiday season they can't afford to miss.
 
This game has been in development for a long time, asking their employees to work 6 days for 6 weeks is not a big deal, and they are getting compensated for every hour worked.

Other game companies are reportedly worse, with longer "crunch time" schedules, and unpaid overtime.
 
I just got done working a mandatory 6 days per week for about 2.5 months straight. We were extremely behind, so we were in a crunch to get things back on track. It was the first time my company has ever enforced it since I've worked here, so it's not like this happens all the time or anything. It sucked, but it is what it is. As long as it's not a regular occurrence, I don't see a problem (assuming they're being compensated). The point is, people act like these crunches are unique to game developers. The fact is, it happens all over the place.

Also, since they are getting 10% of CDPR's profit for the year, you would think they would 100% want to get their game out by their stated Nov 19 release date. They're going to miss out on a lot of money if the most hyped game ever misses the holiday window.
 
Cyberpunk really ought to have aimed for the Nov. 5th date, to cash in on the classic "Anonymous Mask" inspired by "V for Vendetta."
 
1 extra day/week for 6 weeks. Alternatively that would amount to a 8 day delay? (8 days = 6 business days)
The 10% pay for the team was already there, it's not extra compensation. While this type of crunch is normal in the industry that doesn't make it ok imo =/
 
At one point, I worked for a company that would do "crunch" time exercises. I found the apologies by management disingenuous because there was rarely a post mortem to identify what went wrong and mitigations put in place to stop the repeat of those failures.

Crunch time, more often than not, is a failure of management to plan.
 
CD Project Red went from a company that made games for fun and profit to just profit. Inevitably any small company that becomes successful will eventually become like EA. How is it a game that was already delayed is now needing crunch time before release?
 
Crunch time, more often than not, is a failure of management to plan.

Yes, but we can't look at the executives here as idiot zombies who just "fail to plan."
The nature of this beast is "Cyberpunk." Who makes a game like this? Authoritarian corporate executives with a brutally perfect schedule?

I doubt it. The sort of person who likes Cyberpunk ideas and aesthetic just isn't gonna be a hardcore taskmaster, so that is one small allowance I'd give them.
 
You people need to realize how well CDPR treats their employees in that shit hole Poland. Where there are shit for labor laws.
 
Seems like a failure in time management if they've had to delay it twice and still have to crunch. At least they are mandatorily getting paid for OT.
 
Thanks to Jason Schrier's "crunch" outrage farming, this appears to be blown way out of proportion. I don't think the guy is capable of finishing a thought without "crunch" somewhere in there.

Yes, CDPR is working one additional day per week... for the final 6 weeks. So 6 extra work days, paid overtime of course, and a nice 10% profit-sharing bonus. The world's tiniest violin is playing somewhere for those poor abused workers at CDPR.
 
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You guys all say 1 additional day per week, but that's not really the complete picture. A normal work week 5 days working for 8 hours each day. Crunch time for them is probably more like 12 hours each day. At 6 days a week that's 72 hours.

That's 40 hours versus 72. Almost double the amount of time.

Also just because the 6 days are mandatory it doesn't mean people aren't working all 7.
 
I worked, on call with work at a minimum of every 3 hours, 24 hours a day 7 days a week for 5 years. If I was on vacation, I worked. If I was sick, I worked. If I was traveling in the middle of BFE - I worked. I chose to work. The ends more than justified the work load. I don't work much now, so it worked out. I could have chosen a different profession at any time. I chose not to.
 
You guys all say 1 additional day per week, but that's not really the complete picture. A normal work week 5 days working for 8 hours each day. Crunch time for them is probably more like 12 hours each day. At 6 days a week that's 72 hours.

That's 40 hours versus 72. Almost double the amount of time.

Also just because the 6 days are mandatory it doesn't mean people aren't working all 7.

I don't condone crunch at all, but all of this is complete speculation.
 
The whole crunch-outrage thing is sad because, rather than unionizing, the workers seem to be hoping that gamers will guilt these businesses into treating their employees a certain way. Even that original article about EPIC devs working on Fortnite detailed how those people were making several times the industry average for those positions. If labor laws allow for crunch time then there's only so much some angry social media posts are going to do, especially when those posts are coming from people that will buy the product regardless of the outcome.
 
That is the problem. People know they can't fight back without any retaliation in todays work climate.
Sure, but shouldn't they know this is the job when they go in? This is exactly what will happen when they apply? Or are they absolutely completely so ignorant that quite literally every AAA title that has ever been released goes into "super crunch" as the game nears release date. It's kind of like going for a job as a warehouse worker then "being afraid" to complain that your job is hard because you have to lift shit off of shelves.
 
The whole crunch-outrage thing is sad because, rather than unionizing, the workers seem to be hoping that gamers will guilt these businesses into treating their employees a certain way. Even that original article about EPIC devs working on Fortnite detailed how those people were making several times the industry average for those positions. If labor laws allow for crunch time then there's only so much some angry social media posts are going to do, especially when those posts are coming from people that will buy the product regardless of the outcome.
Not only will the Nancy's feigning outrage now buy the game regardless, but they would be the ones screaming the loudest about "broken, shit, unfinished game" if it launches full of bugs because CDPR didn't do all they possibly could to minimize them.

An insanely complex RPG 8+ years in the making, and I can't think of a more anticipated videogame in my lifetime. Their entire company hinges on the success of this game launching smoothly. So no kidding they're working overtime now in the final weeks of the home stretch.
 
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Before everyone freaks out Poland has strict labour laws with a max average of 48 hours a week so its not like US crunch where employees are working 6x14 hour days. Don't get me wrong 6x8 hour days still suck but its not nearly as bad as some of you may think it is.

edit: link to the code
Art. 131. Maximum limit of the total weekly working time. § 1. Weekly working time, together with overtime hours, must not exceed an average of 48 hours in the applicable calculation period.
http://www.en.pollub.pl/files/17/attachment/98_Polish-Labour-Code,1997.pdf

boo-frickity-hoo. it's crunch time, happens everywhere.

the issue was cd projekt red promised specifically they wouldn't do this
 
You guys all say 1 additional day per week, but that's not really the complete picture. A normal work week 5 days working for 8 hours each day. Crunch time for them is probably more like 12 hours each day. At 6 days a week that's 72 hours.

That's 40 hours versus 72. Almost double the amount of time.

Also just because the 6 days are mandatory it doesn't mean people aren't working all 7.
I don't understand this outrage culture over paid overtime. If people are willing to put in more hours and are getting paid for it,then why is it the evil of all evils? This is internal business of the developer. It's their job to care about their employees morale, not mine.
I don't want to hear about it until there is something to report, like employees not getting paid on time or at all for their overtime, or being forced to work more than what is allowed by law. I even condone them working more than allowed by law if it is fully voluntary.
 
I don't understand this outrage culture over paid overtime. If people are willing to put in more hours and are getting paid for it,then why is it the evil of all evils? This is internal business of the developer. It's their job to care about their employees morale, not mine.
I don't want to hear about it until there is something to report, like employees not getting paid on time or at all for their overtime, or being forced to work more than what is allowed by law. I even condone them working more than allowed by law if it is fully voluntary.

Yeah. It's often just the classic SJW BS where people rage about it on the internet but the actual employees are fine with it.
 
Before everyone freaks out Poland has strict labour laws with a max average of 48 hours a week so its not like US crunch where employees are working 6x14 hour days. Don't get me wrong 6x8 hour days still suck but its not nearly as bad as some of you may think it is.

edit: link to the code

http://www.en.pollub.pl/files/17/attachment/98_Polish-Labour-Code,1997.pdf
It is not enforceable. You cannot put a guard over the shoulder of every employee to check if they actually worked 48 hours only. We have the same limit in my country, the only effect it has that we don't get paid in time for anything beyond 48 hours, because it must be left off the books, so it is paid later either as bonuses or fictional overtime hours.

the issue was cd projekt red promised specifically they wouldn't do this
And you believe in fairy tales, too? They promised because they didn't think they'd need it. But they are still for profit, and profits outweigh the needs to make nice.
 
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Are they hourly? In most industries here if you work another 8 or 10 hour day, you get 150% pay as overtime by default for exceeding 40 hours.
 
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