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Dying Light 2 dev Techland under fire for alleged toxic management

A new report suggests that toxic management and bad feedback are slowing down the development of Dying Light 2, and causing employees to leave the studio.

Josh Hawkins

February 23, 2021 11:45 AM

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A new report suggests that Techland, the development studio behind Dying Light and Dying Light 2, is losing employees due to poor management and bad feedback.

Originally set to release in 2019, Dying Light 2’s development seems to have been marred quite a bit already, with the game seeing release date delays and constant changes in who is helping head up development within the studio. Now, a new report from TheGamer appears to shed more light on the situation, portraying an upper management team that is filled with toxicity, whose feedback and overall attitude have led to multiple employees leaving the studio behind.

The reported issues range from the studio hiring so-called “experts” who don’t have the experience needed to run the departments they are given to the studio’s CEO, Pawel Marchewka, reportedly being unwilling to listen to people within the studio—instead relying on the comments and opinions of people outside of the company. Other problems outlined by sources include upper management providing feedback like “this character looks gay” and even some more profane statements.

These issues have allegedly led to many key players in Dying Light 2’s development leaving the company, including Pawel Zawodny, who worked as chief development officer for nine years within the studio. Others have left, too, with many sources that talked to TheGamer stating that they felt like their work had been for nothing, as things changed so much throughout the course of the game’s development.

Where some are leaving, the report also suggests that Techland has a habit of hiring people that don’t have the right experience for the job, including its current creative director of marketing, Łukasz Janas, whose experience in the games and global market were both limited according to sources. The studio’s HR department is also run by Aleksandra Marchewka, the CEO’s wife. While Marchewka himself says there is no conflict of interest, other sources shared that if you could convince her that your idea was good, she might be able to convince her husband.

The report also notes several marketing ideas that were floated by the team, including the dumping of body bags near the Mexico border, as well as the use of medical testing kits for real diseases that would have been sent out to people marking them positive for the virus from the game. This latter idea was originally pushed around the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the test kits in question would have alerted users to real medical conditions that they suffered from, potentially causing stress or trauma.  Marchewka, the CEO of the company, told TheGamer that he supports a working environment where everyone is free to suggest things, but that not every idea is good, and most will not ever see the light of day. Shock marketing isn’t necessarily a new thing, but some of these ideas are definitely out there a bit.

There’s a lot to unpack in the report, and sources within the story don’t seem happy with how Techland has run things. Many cited poor direction, lack of trust in the experts hired in the studio, and unrealistic expectations as key reasons for the toxicity that the company is reportedly dealing with at the moment.

You can check out the full report from TheGamer for more details. We’ll continue to monitor the story and update with any additional information that is revealed as we dig deeper.

Josh Hawkins

Guides Editor

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has been exploring the world of video games for as long as he can remember. He enjoys everything from large-scale RPGs to small, bite-size indie gems and everything in between.