Over the last couple of months or so, there have been rumours going around that The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red is having some trouble behind the scenes. A lot of this speculation was based on relatively negative feedback that was given by former employees, essentially saying that the Polish studio wasn't the best company to work for. Naturally, this has led to people questioning how well the development of upcoming role-playing title Cyberpunk 2077 is coming along.
With this kind of talk gathering speed across the internet, the developer has stepped out and issued a statement. "We'd normally avoid commenting on company reviews on spaces like Glassdoor [a job search and company reviewing website], but this time around -- especially in light of the fact that we haven't communicated anything about Cyberpunk 2077 for a long time and saw some gamers getting worried about the project -- we'd like to elaborate on a few things," that statement reads.
It continues: "First off, we'd like to talk about the departures. In 2015, when we released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we were over 200 developers strong and that was the core crew of the studio. Since then we've almost doubled the headcount and we're still hiring. Do people leave? Sure they do. We always wish them all the best and respect both their decision and the feedback they give us as the reason for their departure. We are continuously working on making Red a good workplace for everyone, but we also have a set of values that constitutes who we are and how we do things."
"So, does a departure, even a high profile one, mean that the project is in danger?" the studio asks. "One would need to be very courageous to base the future of a AAA role-playing game of such scope on one person (or a few people)." In other words, CD Projekt Red says don't worry about Cyberpunk 2077. The developer goes on to say that the game is "progressing as planned", but it's "taking [its] time".
"In this case, silence is the cost of making a great game," the statement concludes. Here's hoping that we finally hear more about Cyberpunk 2077 in the not-so-distant future.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 13
Its gone crazy, not everyone gets on with everyone. Its okay to dislike your job and leave. Trust me I had a job on the hotdog stand at Bolton Wanderes Reebok stadium for 1 whole day.
I'm always wary at Glassdoor, because, let's be honest - most only leave a review on Glassdoor when you hate the job.
it took 4years for the Witcher 2 to arrive and another 4yrs after that, we got the Witcher 3. For the first year or so after Witcher 2, they added some extra content and released an 'Enhanced' edition - also on XB360 - nothing unusual as they also released an Enhanced Witcher game a year after the first but the Witcher 2 was there first foray onto consoles.
Obviously the Team grew for the significantly larger in both scale and scope, Witcher 3. They also added two 'significant' DLC packs as well as made a separate 'Gwent' game and released a Game of the Year version too.
I know its been a 'long' time since we first heard about Cyberpunk, but they have consistently stated that their priority was on the Witcher 3 - both before launch and after. Now we know a Studio isn't likely to require its 'full' team to be working solely on one game and RPG's require a significant amount of planning, story branching etc and no doubt you have people specialising in certain areas - like character modelling, landscape artists, animation etc so while others maybe finished with the Witcher 3 - these may have been working on the next game but you can't expect the Character modellers or landscape artists to have been working on the next game when they were still required for the Witcher 3's DLC - especially as the last pack introduced new characters and a new 'landscape' to play in.
According to CDPR, Cyberpunk is a much bigger game and much more ambitious too. Chances are its likely to be in much more built up areas with fewer big open expanses of forest/trees with small pockets of communities. We know some of CDPR left to work on Horizon:ZD and its not unusual for Devs to get burnt out on a project and looking for something new or 'different' to work on. What I do detest though is these that do move on, bad-mouthing the company they worked for. Like I said, some of that could be down to stress, being burned out on a project etc - especially as deadlines approach and 'get missed' as we see now. The Witcher 3 was 'delayed' a few times
The TL:DR is that Cyberpunk is unlikely to have been anywhere near 'properly' started before the end of the Witcher 3 - whilst it could have had small pockets of time invested in it during. CDPR stated they weren't 'fully' invested in its development and wouldn't be whilst the Witcher 3 was current. Historically, they haven't released a 'big' game until 4yrs has passed - which would mean Cyberpunk should arrive in 2019 onwards.
As for turmoil, there could be a number of factors that the person bad-mouthing felt, but that doesn't mean the rest of the staff agree - like I said, they may have felt more pressure with elapsing deadlines etc so again, don't jump to conclusions unless you have all the evidence and knowledge of the situation and the people involved - better still, have worked at CDPR at the same time.
I'm not too worried at this point. Maybe they have strict workflow to produce good games or whatever and some people just can't cope with that. As long as they're paying their employees, I'm looking forward to Cyberpunk.
They could be douche bags though, I don't know.
I do not have any sympathy for them after they pulled with the game title.
If you watch the recent documentries on No Clip you can see how passionate and invested the devs, heck there not even above mocking their own games. Devs leave all the time, it's the nature of the business, also no game in history has ever been developed without hardship, that's what some games truly special.
Good to hear the project is progressing along. The Cyberpunk teaser was very intriguing. Of course we’d like to see something by way of announcements about its progress, but keeping things close to the vest is fine too, as long as we know it’s coming along as planned.
As far as disgruntled employees goes, I personally don’t need to see how the sausage is made. As long as they follow the labor laws, get those employees working and create something awesome! Of course, I realize the argument could be made that happy employees work harder and are more efficient and passionate about their work, and therefore a superior product could be expected. Either way, just make sure the game lives up to the hype, please CDPR.
Quite possibly my most anticipated game at this point. Looking forward to seeing more but absolutely respect their decision to keep things quiet until they are ready to share something.
Given how awesome The Witcher 3 was, I am very much looking forward to hearing more about this. That being said I feel they've announced this way too early.
god i love cdpr
hope it is coming along Great there in my top 5 Devs for sure.
People need to settle down, ffs. Making games takes a long time, and that's never been more apparent than now, where the days of Duke Nukem Forever's 10 year dev cycle is looking less and less rare. Not just because of other cases like FFXV and Last Guardian joining it, and many games "shipping" in unfinished states and then continuing to be built for years after being released out "into the wild" - stuff like ARK: Survival Evolved, Star Citizen and Player Unknown's Battlegrounds... heck, there's even a bunch of traditional games that came out this year with 5+ year dev cycles, especially indie games where stuff like CupHead and A Hat in Time finally came out. Doesn't matter the size of your team; if you're making a quality title, its going to require dedicating years to make it. Not everyone is part of an Activision-like "annual franchise machine" and can turn out a sequel in 2-3 years... nor should that be the norm (there's a reason why many big franchises see diminishing returns with every sequel). And despite having so much evidence to that fact, some (stupid/impatient) people just don't seem to learn anything do they?
Even though its likely going to be incredible in the end, you'd have to be a real dingus to get super impatient over Cyberpunk 2077 when there's FAR TOO MUCH quality to play right now anyway. Talk about tunnel vision. CDPR's got some insane fans if they're checking freakin' Glassdoor for morsels and snippets of info on a game they're making. smh
CD Project is one of the few companies I completely trust who know what they are doing. I am not even impatient with Cyberpunk 2077. I simply know, they will take their time and once they release, it will blow everyone away.
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