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[GrayChild]

CD Projekt Red Dev Defends Crunch, Suggests People Have An "Ideological Narrative" Against Them

Recently CD Projekt Red was outed as one of the developers who were forcing mandatory crunch on their employees, and this hasn't gone well with others.

gameinfinitus.com

"Adrian Chmielarz, who is the founder of People Can Fly as well as his current studio The Astronauts, wrote a lengthy Facebook post this Sunday where he talked about how game development usually leads to crunch and there is a lot more to it then simply people overworking to deliver on a release date. He called it a complicated situation.

Meanwhile, the truth is so trivial that crunch is a complicated phenomenon and not black and white. I can’t set a better example than the fact that I know people from CDPR who crunched, gone, and talk about the company that hedgehogs hair on their head, but also those who crunch longer, yet they are from work in it highly satisfied and not going to move from it.

Łukasz Szczepankowski, Lead Technical Designer at CD Projekt Red, was one of the developers who responded to the post by Adrian Chmielarz by adding that he doesn’t consider “game development managers” as “proverbial capitalists.”

I can only confirm what Adrian Chmielarz wrote. Even if it comes to the situations he describes, my experience shows that game developers have relative solidarity in this respect from top to bottom, regardless of the position taken. I must disappoint you. Game development managers are not the proverbial capitalists – exploiters who count money while smoking a cigar and from time to time glance at the oppressed developers (however picturesque this vision sounds).

After the news of the crunch broke out, CD Projekt Red Studio Head Adam Badowski addressed the topic to say that his company will once again share 10% of its yearly profits with the development team. One user who was in conversation with Lukasz was skeptical of this claim to which he replied back saying that this is not a new thing but has been going on for a long time. He suggests that this news might be an attempt to put CDPR in a “bad” light.

I wonder what makes funny in your statement. CDPR shares profits for a long time, on time, and with no excuses. Maybe it was laughter through tears Seriously, I have the impression that some people preferred us to be bad just to have a foundation for their ideological narrative."

Considering how outspoken some of the usual hypocrite journos can be (*cough*JasonShreier*cough*JimSterling*cough*), is it too much to expect them to follow these statements?

 

[ManaByte]

 

[Soapy Wooder]

I am gonna crunch when it releases. Less sleep on launch day for sure. Feel bad for me.

 

[LOLCats]

yeah they shouldn't even have to defend this, fucking first reply is perfect

 

[GrayChild]

 

[Gediminas]

unless you born with silver spoon in your mouth, there is no excuse to be so stupid. people "crunching" everywhere in the world, that's just how world spin. even a lot of rich people crunching and sometimes even more than simple workers. in the end, every single man has a choice!

 

[Psajdak]

Wait, they thought we were serious?

ROFL.

 

[ManaByte]

Sterling just waits for Schreier to set the narrative and then turns it into performance outrage for monetized YouTube views.

 

[Portugeezer]

 

[Soulblighter31]

Schreier has fuel to make another non situation into something, while pretending to be a journalist

 

[DJT123]

Yes, I whole-heartedly agree with them. It seems like Schrier constructed a narrative around CDPR because they're the new big boys on the scene, not because they were being unfair.

Also, he wasn't doing that to other studios that actually may have ideological concerns (disguised as crunch) of a different kind.

 

[martino]

if majority see the benefit for them and agree to it, it's fine by me.

 

[The Hamburglar]

Is he still practicing cuckolding with his beast?

 

[teezzy]

Whenever I see Jim Sterling in normal clothing, it reminds me of why he typically wears that stupid ass costume in every video.

 

[Alebrije]

Leaked image of CDPR workers after days of crunching..

 

[ethomaz]

Some key employees defending crunch... that sounds very similar...

 

[Rikkori]

Rat-faced squeaky-voiced fuck. A face emblematic of modern day degeneracy & decay.

But I don't blame him, he is the kind of vermin that he is, I blame CDPR's CEO for giving him the time of day for interviews and whatnot. I like Rockstar's approach much more where they just tell these twerps to fuck off.

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm sure it's a mix of pros and cons. I go through large stretches of time where I will work 60 hrs a week or more. 16 hr days are not unusual for me. I'm in health care.

If I was mandated to do it, which sometimes does happen, I'd be pissed. If it's an optional thing and you get paid for overtime than fine. But I'm sure it's not optional all the time. And I'm sure lots of workplaces are toxic with lots of competing political battles for promotion and raises, which pushes people to work overtime more so they aren't a let down when it comes time for review.

It's just something that I think will be part of almost any job. You could do an expose' on almost any workplace in almost any field and find nepotism, corruption, exploitation, burnout, horrible managers, pressure to not use time off, and so on. I'm not defending it, but it is pretty much present at almost any place I've ever worked.

 

[cireza]

 

[Skifi28]

Gotta sell some drama, those clicks ain't gonna click themselves.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Well theres been some bad stories about them a few years ago from employees

 

[diffusionx]

I'm sure it's a mix of pros and cons. I go through large stretches of time where I will work 60 hrs a week or more. 16 hr days are not unusual for me. I'm in health care.

If I was mandated to do it, which sometimes does happen, I'd be pissed. If it's an optional thing and you get paid for overtime than fine. But I'm sure it's not optional all the time. And I'm sure lots of workplaces are toxic with lots of competing political battles for promotion and raises, which pushes people to work overtime more so they aren't a let down when it comes time for review.

It's just something that I think will be part of almost any job. You could do an expose' on almost any workplace in almost any field and find nepotism, corruption, exploitation, burnout, horrible managers, pressure to not use time off, and so on. I'm not defending it, but it is pretty much present at almost any place I've ever worked.

"Mandate" is the wrong word here. It is no secret when CP2077 is coming out. The state of the game is not a secret. It is not hidden that CDPR wants the game to be as good as possible at release. Even a young child could tell you that it is time to put some more hours in. If you're the type of guy who needs to clock out at 5pm every single day of the year (BTW I don't know a single job, blue or white collar, where this is the case) then stop working on a tripe-A videogame.

Schreier trots this out with the "big game" of the year every single year. It's easy to do, because people work hard to finish these games. It's beyond tedious at this point, yet he gets attention from blue checkmarks on twitter and communist furry gamers every single time.

 

[Senua]

He needs to do some crunches himself!

 

[Mod of War]

I am gonna crunch when it releases. Less sleep on launch day for sure. Feel bad for me.

 

[-Arcadia-]

Making games (ones that matter anyway) is a labor of love. Nobody wants crunch, that much is sure, but if you asked many of those people? I’m sure they want to make sure that the game they’ve spent, what, the last 5 years of their life on, the best, most magical experience it can be.

We need people to stand up for workers, to make sure they have a voice, and aren’t abused, but I don’t think that’s the likes of Kotaku or fatass. Their heavy-handed, ideological bent makes them miss the nuance of the situation.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

All entertainment industries are full of "crunch", but it's interesting that videogames get singled out for it... and then of course the same people complaining about crunch talk about the proper way for these companies to operate...

 

[cormack12]

I might be wrong, but I feel all these stories are from millenials who:

have realised that work actually means work and it lasts 8 hours a day and are pissed off they're being held to it
have realised that their talent isn't actually what they thought it was and need to spend hours getting shit right rather than have everyone wank over their sketch that took 5 minutes
left/let go because of any of the above reasons

And they run to Uncle Jason as a source to broadcast their story and find a few friends as additional 'sources'. How many of his contacts are always 'former employees', contractors etc.

My honest opinion is he's trying to foster a single issue career and win some sort of award on the back of it.

 

[Aggressive Carrot]

I'll be doing some serious crunching when I finally get to play.

 

[Soapy Wooder]

All entertainment industries are full of "crunch", but it's interesting that videogames get singled out for it... and then of course the same people complaining about crunch talk about the proper way for these companies to operate...

Even kids in high school experience "crunch". Almost all working adults have deadlines.

I ain't walking thru Costco during the holiday season thanking all worker for their crunch.

 

[GiJoint]

“Im entitled to a break every hour!”

 

[Astral Dog]

All that crunch and still no multiple vagina option

 

[Maybe It's Medicine?]

Bottom feeders and woke scumbags. CDPR is following the law. They really don't need to answer to leeches on the fucking internet with obvious agendas and targeted outrage. No avoiding it though. People are thirsty to ride that Cyberpunk gravy train. Gotta get all the clicks.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Even kids in high school experience "crunch". Almost all working adults have deadlines.

I ain't walking thru Costco during the holiday season thanking all worker for their crunch.

Don't crunch me, bro. No Child Was Left Behind in my generation, so we were not brainwashed by these colonialist ideas like "crunch" and "merit" and "getting ahead through hard work and determination". You doubt my credentials? I have 3 crates full of blue ribbons and participatory medals to prove you wrong.

 

[G-Bus]

Just from a personal perspective I would not tolerate working at a place with mandatory overtime. Just not for me.

I have in the passed worked 60 hour weeks though.

 

[Concern]

Crunch aka overtime. I dont see any outrage towards any other industry doing overtime. Fuckin snowflakes.

 

[Soapy Wooder]

Don't crunch me, bro. No Child Was Left Behind in my generation, so we were not brainwashed by these colonialist ideas like "crunch" and "merit" and "getting ahead through hard work and determination". You doubt my credentials? I have 3 crates full of blue ribbons and participatory medals to prove you wrong.

You and your 3 crates can eat a bag of chubby baby dicks

 

[Edgelord79]

This is fantastic!

 

[Punished Miku]

My honest opinion is he's trying to foster a single issue career and win some sort of award on the back of it.

I think he wants to try and be a real journalist instead of always writing clickbait headlines.

But gaming journalism is pretty limited. You're either just leaking products before they're announced for consumers, or you're trying to find some kind of actual issue to do some real investigative reporting on. There's really not much he can find since almost everything is secret.

I really don't have any issue with his articles on this subject. It looks like he's trying to do something serious, but gaming journalism in general is not really very serious. Even that one guy at the Wall Street Journal - Takashi Mochizuki - basically just reports leaks on budgets, profits, or some unannounced products a month or two early and that's about it. If you're a reporter, it's a fairly limited beat, even though it commands a huge amount of money as an industry.

 

[Tsukumo]

They have been giving in to the mob with gender sliders and gender bending bosses. They are going to have a hard time standing their ground now.

 

[Hustler]

Good on them for pushing back. What Career these days doesn't experience crunch? Especially when key projects are being delivered that will make/break a company. On average I work 40-50 hours but will ramp up to 60 as needed during certain times of the year. Should we bring up Lawyers and Doctors/Nurses, the Movie industry, etc? Most jobs are compensated well for crunch and even offer additional time off due to crunch. This may be an example of a few bad apples, but from Kotaku's stories they're mostly not well founded.

 

[Aggressive Carrot]

A lot people who complain about crunch probably don't have to work hard, and wouldn't understand having to do work that doesn't involve sitting in front of a web cam or typing a few stories a week.

Leaked image of CDPR workers after days of crunching..

Those poor souls. I'll use a sad crying emoji face to express how I feel.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Fucking EXACTLY. I really wish more came out and were verbal about it to slap down the overdramatic perspectives that plagued the media. Making the employees sound incredibly helpless and the companies absolutely hellish is so damn annoying. Especially when they have absolutely zero understanding as to why it works the way it does, why it's happened for decades now, and why it will continue to unless there's some wild and drastic AAA industry change. Even then, it may not change anything.

 

[cormack12]

I'll be doing some serious crunching when I finally get to play.

That's not a bad idea to get trending when it releases tbh #WeAppreciateTheCdpRrunch (or a tag that's actually cool) - I'm sure it would be far better getting a shitloads of tweets and likes saying thanks than another shitty article

 

[B-universe]

Some key employees defending crunch... that sounds very similar...

Anonymous poster with zero insider knowledge casting unsubstantiated suspicions on developers who do not agree with him, then throwing in bloody ellipsis for good measure an to make it suspenseful.

Yeah, that sounds familiar alright.

 

[Kuranghi]

Ask people that work in hospitality what crunching is lmao, 6 EXTRA DAYS THAT ARE PAID OVERTIME?!?? What a fucking joke this "story" is.

I bet most of the employees are like "Fuck yes, I can pay off my <insert common adult debt> with that extra cash!".

I worked as a salesman and there was no commission and I still worked 10 extra hours every week and missed my lunch break at least 1 day a week. Sometimes you have to just put your head down and put the work in when its needed.

I don't think this is excessive given it was already delayed by months.

 

[carlosrox]

Don't like it, quit.

Many people would kill to work on shit like that.

 

[Slurpy2k20]

I mentioned that Schrier is not a very honest actor and does not tweet in good faith, which is probably why I got banned from resetera.

But truthfully, since we can speak freely here, the guy is a fucking weasel and an attention whore. CDPR employees are paid normal time, over time, and get bonuses. None of this shit is done for free, they're well compensated, and some level of crunch is a reality and a necessity when trying to achieve anything great. I don't recall them ever. asking for people's pity. I'm sure they all love what they do and are ok with working hard on something they can be proud of and which will be enjoyed by tens of millions of people.

 

[ethomaz]

Anonymous poster with zero insider knowledge casting unsubstantiated suspicions on developers who do not agree with him, that throws in bloody ellipsis to make it suspenseful.

Yeah, that sounds familiar alright.

I mean the companies are used to choose key employees to deny the crushing all the time... that was already being a thing in several others companies accused of the same behavior.
BTW the info from the crushing come from own company employee too... it is anonymous to safe secure no harm to the employee.

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Jason is changing into the Penguin.

 

[Starfield]