CD Projekt Red admits studio crunch will lead up to Cyberpunk 2077's launch

Despite a delay pushing Cyberpunk 2077 back to September, the studio admitted that the time leading up to launch will include crunch hours for the development team.

6

CD Projekt Red may have delayed Cyberpunk 2077, but that doesn’t mean the pressure is off the developers to take their time and get the game done at a reasonable pace. The studio has been noted in the past for the strain of development crunch and it would appear it’s going to be the same for Cyberpunk 2077 leading up to its launch. CDPR announced in a recent call that the studio will be crunching even to get Cyberpunk 2077 ready for September.

The reveal came out in a recent question-and-answer conference call with CD Projekt Red Joint-CEO Adam Kiciński, CFO Piotr Nielubowicz, and Board Member and publishing lead Michał Nowakowski. When asked about comparisons between the development cycle of Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, and about the matter of studio crunch, Kiciński answered that crunch would unfortunately factor into the lead-up to Cyberpunk’s launch.

“To some degree, yes - to be honest,” Adam answered when asked if the development team would be required to put in crunch time. “We try to limit crunch as much as possible, but it is the final stage. We try to be reasonable in this regard, but yes. Unfortunately.”

CD Projekt Red has stressed repeatedly that Cyberpunk 2077 will easily be the magnum opus of the studio's efforts. Unfortunately, even a delay won't keep the studio from crunch.
CD Projekt Red has stressed repeatedly that Cyberpunk 2077 will easily be the magnum opus of the studio's efforts. Unfortunately, even a delay won't keep the studio from crunch.

It’s worth noting that CD Projekt Red has faced criticisms for crunch in the studio’s past when anonymous employees reported stiff working conditions and straining amounts of overtime to company review and search site Glassdoor. Despite this, Cyberpunk 2077 has also been a pinnacle project for CD Projekt Red. With years of development on the studios hands and so much anticipation for the game, it may be safe to say that there’s an astronomical amount riding on Cyberpunk’s success for CDPR.

Even so, the recent delay of Cyberpunk 2077 to September 2020 makes even more sense now. If the studio was going to need to crunch just to get the game out by September (not to mention the multiplayer component, which CDPR revealed in the call won’t be ready till after 2021), then there’s no telling what kind of strain the team would have been under to finish by April.

Stay tuned to Shacknews as we follow this story and further information and developments on the upcoming launch of Cyberpunk 2077.

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

From The Chatty
Hello, Meet Lola