Cyberpunk 2077 studio introduces mandatory crunch and says it won’t delay the game again

CD Projekt Red studio head Adam Badowski has told staff it will be mandatory to work six-day weeks ahead of Cyberpunk 2077’s release – and he claims “the majority of the team” understands the need to do so.

While the company claimed last year that it operated a “non-obligatory crunch policy”, that is no longer the case.

Bloomberg reports that Badowski emailed development staff on Monday to inform them that they are now required complete a paid weekend shift in addition to their normal working week.

“I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision,” he wrote. “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.”

CD Projekt’s chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz said the main reason the company had implemented the new policy is to get rid of as many bugs as possible in time for the highly anticipated game’s release.

In June the Cyberpunk 2077 release date was delayed by two months to November 19, marking a second delay for the game this year after it slipped from its originally targeted April launch to September.

Nielubowicz told Bloomberg the game’s release date will not be delayed again.

UPDATE 27/10/20: CD Projekt has delayed the Cyberpunk 2077 release date by 21 days to December 10.

ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES: Following Cyberpunk 2077’s first delay in January Adam Kiciński, the president of CD Projekt Red’s parent company CD Projekt, said some crunch will “unfortunately” be necessary to complete the game.

Responding to today’s reports, Badowski released a statement claiming the move to introduce mandatory crunch was “one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make”.

In May CD Projekt overtook Ubisoft to become Europe’s most valuable video game company, although their roles have since reversed again.

Further reading

Some crunch required to finish Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt says

Company claims it tries “to be reasonable in this regard”