This could have gone a lot better. Usually CDPR is good in how it communicates, but this left a far stronger impression of clumsy confirmation behind recent criticism ( if "reviews" are to be believed) along with vague statements about "we're doing our own thing", that really don't say anything.
And if CDPR openly states they expect huge effort and sacrifices from their employees, shouldn't they be equally rewarded?
If it's a choice between preserving your health/social life and a decent salary while working on a medium ( ambitious game) or super ambitious project while everything else suffers...how many would go for latter?
( In comparison, reviews on Naughty Dog, another studio known for driving it's employees to breaking point, are still substantially different and far more positive)
As for "reinventing the wheel"...I really can't agree with that. Damn, I wish, that were true. But so far, I didn't see any hints of could-be-visionaries in their ranks: well recognized names that created whole new genres: Miyamoto, Kojima, Mikami, Specter, Miyazaki, etc.
So far, CDPR has been, perhaps too much, following designs from other games ( cinematic storytelling of Bioware, world design from Rockstar, Ubisoft glowing trails vision, etc).
Granted, there were clear restrictions by predefined lore, but they still had a few areas they had room to do a lot more ( rpg progression swordplay, alchemy, mutagens, etc...)
I guess Cyberpunk will put this statement to the test: multiplayer, roles, netrunning, futuristic city design, PnP skills, lifepaths...there is really a ton of possibilities here.