CDPR President Apologizes for 'Utterly Bad' Cyberpunk 2077 Crunch Comments

Published: October 29, 2020 1:10 PM /

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Cyberpunk 2077 crunch cover

CD Projekt Red President Adam Kiciński has apologized for comments he made regarding Cyberpunk 2077 crunch, categorizing them as "utterly bad" in an e-mail reportedly sent to employees.

Cyberpunk 2077 has been been in various stages of development for nearly a decade. The release date has had delays announced in January, June, and as recently as yesterday, ultimately pushing back its release date to December 10, 2020. The issue of crunch — developers working more than the standard 40-hour workweek — was an especially hard decision for the CD Projekt Red's CEO, and now its company President has apologized for recent comments he made in an interview.

Cyberpunk 2077 crunch slice

What Did CDPR's Adam Kiciński Say About Cyberpunk 2077 Crunch?

CD Projekt Red President Adam Kiciński's comments were made as part of where an investor asked if the most recent release date delay would be enough time to get the game finished in time. That question also asked about whether or not this extra development time would have a positive effect on crunch, prompting Kiciński to address the issue.

"Regarding crunch; actually, it’s not that bad – and never was."  – Adam Kiciński, CD Projekt Red President

"Regarding crunch; actually, it’s not that bad – and never was," Kiciński said in the transcript of a recent investment call [PDF]. "Of course it’s a story that has been picked up by the media, and some people have been crunching heavily, but a large part of the team is not crunching at all since they have finished their work; it’s mostly about Q&A and engineers, programmers – but it’s not that heavy; of course, it will be extended a bit, but we have feedback from the team; they’re happy about the extra three weeks, so we don’t see any threats regarding crunch."

As one might expect, this comment on Cyberpunk 2077 crunch was not well-received by some people. Kiciński has since reportedly apologized in a company-wide e-mail.

"I had not wanted to comment on crunch, yet I still did, and I did it in a demeaning and harmful way..." Kiciński said in an e-mail to CDPR staff as reported by Jason Schreier. "What I said was not even unfortunate, it was utterly bad."

What do you think of crunch in game development? Do you think Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to launch before the end of the year? Let us know in the comments below!

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