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With the success of The Witcher franchise, CD Projekt Red has quickly grown into one of the most esteemed studios around. As work on Cyberpunk 2077 gets under way, the number of developers at the studio has also grown, hitting as high as 400. However, over the last few months there have been some departures, with former employees criticising studio management on services like GlassDoor. With that in mind, CDPR has penned an open letter responding to these comments, cutting off rumours before they get out of hand.
Over on Glass Door some anonymous former employees of CD Projekt Red have left some negative comments. One review cited “unrealistic virtual deadlines” and “unnecessary crunch”, while another went as far as to say that “people who basically hate games are at management positions” and claimed that bullying is common in the office.
In response to these comments, co-founder Marcin Iwinski and studio head, Adam Badowski, put out an open letter to fans trying to put things into perspective:
“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”.
The letter then turns towards calming concerns surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, stating that “even a high profile departure” doesn’t necessarily mean that the project is in any danger. “One would need to be very courageous to base the future of an AAA role-playing game of such scope on one person (or a few people)”.
According to CD Projekt Red, “even if something feels impossible, it doesn’t mean it is”. The studio has proven it has lofty ambitions with The Witcher 3 and this will certainly be stepped up for Cyberpunk, but the studio heads don’t believe it is being unrealistic. The letter ends on a final note that CDPR’s “approach to making games is not for everyone”, adding that “Cyberpunk 2077 is progressing as planned” but the studio is taking its time.
KitGuru Says: It was a smart move for CD Projekt Red to get out ahead of this and say something, rather than letting rumours of issues at the studio spark up. Unfortunately, this is probably the last thing we will hear about Cyberpunk for some time.
So the ex employees that are complaining are complaining because management actually expected them to do their jobs and get things finished. Complaining about bullying seems a bit vague this could mean so many things. Such as team managers trying to get employees to work and get crap done and not waste time so the employee then says you are bullying me by getting in my face about my work habits.
They may also have actual claims as well but we will never really know the whole story here.
A few years ago, Glass Door allowed a lot of comments from “Supposed” former employees of a certain company without any verification at all that the people making the comments actually worked there.
The people making the comments were just spiteful teenagers who used this particular site who disagreed with a business decision the owner made.
Has that changed? do they now have a verification process that the people commenting are actual employees?