Crunch — the period of development time where studios enact overtime to get a product ready to ship — is a controversial and harmful practice that has come under increased fire in recent years. Last year, CD Projekt Red took a vocal stand against crunch, saying that it would most definitely, most assuredly not enact such practices when it came to Cyberpunk 2077.
But oh hey, look at that: CD Projekt Red is enacting such practices for the delayed Cyberpunk 2077. The studio’s head, Adam Badowski, recently sent out a memo to its employees saying that the team was in “overdrive” and would require all employees to work six day weeks until Cyberpunk 2077 was done. While the extra day will be paid, it’s mandatory.
“I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision,” Badowski 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.”
Crunch has affected many titles that we’ve played, including Diablo 2, Apex Legends, and Fortnite. Some studios, such as ZeniMax and Bungie, have committed to fighting the crunch culture in the industry, while others just really want to launch before Christmas.
