CD Projekt RED developers have worked 16-hour days on Cyberpunk 2077...

CD Projekt RED has been crunching Cyberpunk 2077 since 2019, the sources told Bloomberg.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the greatest game CDPR has ever made. It means tens of millions of dollars invested and countless man hours – not to mention the engine optimizations, technical advances, and other behind-the-scenes improvements that keep the mechanics and physics of the FPS working properly. The game is almost ready and nearing its November 2019 release date, but that push has cost developers a lot of overtime.

A recent post on 4Chan claims that since May 2019, CDPR developers have been crunching “non-stop” and working 16-hour working weeks in a crude print known colloquially as the “death march”. The reports have now been confirmed by

I think this Reddit comment from someone who worked at CD Projekt Red is worth sharing, especially since folks out there still think their overtime is limited to 48 hours a week. I can confirm they used to work at CDPR (just got off the phone with them): https://t.co/kWdSzlTUCI pic.twitter.com/XCDjqo2KsH

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 14, 2020

verified the user as an ex-CDPR contributor and also says more developers share similar stories.

CD Projekt RED commented on the crisis through internal channels, but publicly the company took a more cautious approach. Consumer-related responses confirm that CDPR staff are“Understanding” the last pushand head of development Adam Badowski also says Employees receive a 10% bonus on all income from the game– A bonus that is spread across the entire development team.

CD Projekt RED’s games are not just games. They are multi-year blockbusters that are designed to increase game sales over a period of more than 5 years while accelerating goods and other content. This is why it takes so long to create the titles. They are specially designed for huge open-ended experiences that can be resold, re-released, and played for years. This type of structure also requires 5 to 7 year development cycles and a lot of crunch – an unfortunate side effect of an industry that relies on iteration, scrapping of existing content, and lots of rework.

Cyberpunk 2077 will be released on November 19, 2020 for PS4, Xbox One and PC. As you play, think about how many people left all those extra hours to make the project possible.