Employees and developers are speaking out...

[soot00]

OUCH!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-18/cyberpunk-game-maker-faces-hostile-staff-after-failed-launch

CDPR devs are angry too.
"Frustrated and angry staff fired questions at the board during an internal video meeting Thursday that opened with management apologizing for Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous launch"

"Developers asked blunt questions about the company’s reputation, the game’s unrealistic deadlines and the relentless overtime in the months and years leading up to the game’s Dec. 10 release."

"When asked about this crunch time in the Q&A, the directors said they had plans to improve production practices in the future but didn’t elaborate, according to one person who was there."

"One employee asked the board why it had said in January that the game was “complete and playable” when that wasn’t true, to which the board answered that it would take responsibility. Another developer asked whether CD Projekt’s directors felt it was hypocritical to make a game about corporate exploitation while expecting that their employees work overtime. The response was vague and noncommital."

"The game’s deadlines, set by the board of directors, were always unrealistic. It was clear to many of the developers that they needed more time."

 

[Skillful_Prince3]

This makes me wonder if maybe an early access like Taleworlds is doing with Bannerlord might have been a good idea.

 

[Gillian_Seed]

I'd be pissed and speaking out too. Well I can say I have been pissed and speaking out as things have developed.

CDPR MGMT: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have acquired a golden Titanic."
Devs: "This is so sweet. What are we gonna do exactly?"
CDPR MGMT: "We're going to crash into an iceberg and sink everything to the bottom of the ocean obviously."

 

[bullistics]

OUCH!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-18/cyberpunk-game-maker-faces-hostile-staff-after-failed-launch

CDPR devs are angry too.
"Frustrated and angry staff fired questions at the board during an internal video meeting Thursday that opened with management apologizing for Cyberpunk 2077’s disastrous launch"

"Developers asked blunt questions about the company’s reputation, the game’s unrealistic deadlines and the relentless overtime in the months and years leading up to the game’s Dec. 10 release."

"When asked about this crunch time in the Q&A, the directors said they had plans to improve production practices in the future but didn’t elaborate, according to one person who was there."

"One employee asked the board why it had said in January that the game was “complete and playable” when that wasn’t true, to which the board answered that it would take responsibility. Another developer asked whether CD Projekt’s directors felt it was hypocritical to make a game about corporate exploitation while expecting that their employees work overtime. The response was vague and noncommital."

"The game’s deadlines, set by the board of directors, were always unrealistic. It was clear to many of the developers that they needed more time."

Just read this. You knew it was going to come out eventually. We all did. All this fallout is not on the developers but the higher ups. Unrealistic deadlines says it all.

 

[Myajha]

This shocks anyone who played the game?

It's obvious that it had potential, that it truly could have been a great, great game. You can see it, there, just under the surface.

And I'll admit, I was one who was constantly rolling my eyes at Polygon and Kotaku and PCGamer and Eurogamer for bashing the game, before they even saw it. And for some of their critics I still do.

But their critics of the management and their poor style... spot on.

It's obvious that the devs, the employees really wanted to make a great game, and tried hard, and given proper resources and support could have.

Then the Board got involved, and we ended up with a game that could have been made by Electronic Arts, where profitability mattered more then the game and their employees.

 

[Razira]

Nobody with a brain would look at the state of the game on last-gen consoles and think it was a releasable project. You can be sure the actual devs (programmers, artists, designers, QA team, ect) didn't have a say in that decision.

That being said, releasing the game on PC and the new generation of consoles at the time they did was fine. It's a pretty solid game overall. We're missing some expected features, but overall it's worth the money. Delaying the game for last-gen consoles would have caused a bit of a crapstorm, but less of one than releasing a non-functional product. I play on PC and personally I'd have been fine if they delayed the game again if it meant getting some of those missing features in as a bonus. Only a subset of the dev team can actually work on performance issues anyway and you can bet the rest aren't going to be paid to be cheerleaders.

 

[soot00]

Angry employees usually mean low morale which equates to low production.

Would not surprise me if CDProjekt finishes up the console patches and vaporizes this IP altogether.

 

[Cloud7]

No surprise there when you saw 3 days before release CDPR Stock Shares took a nose dive. The game probably would have taken 6 months to a year before being polished to perfection and everything advertised being in the game. Same with the endings etc. I bet you someone got in the room and told the writers end the story NOW we got a DEADLINE to catch.

 

[jt4gov]

It's funny, before Fallout 4 I'd never heard of Jason and I didn't believe a thing he said. Then Fallout 4 released and I was like, "Wow, how does this guy get such great sources and accuracy". Fast forward to Cyberpunk 2077 and again the man is spot on with everything.

He definitely showed to be more trustworthy than CDPR's management. I sincerely hope the developers are able to take more power in the company going forward, because it's obvious from a lot of the content that was cut that they had a great vision, but none of it was allowed to make it to the final product. The previous backstories, the gameplay features that were mentioned, the caliber of gameplay touted, all of it would have culminated in a GOTY, perhaps Game of the Decade, entry.

None of that entered the final product and we were left with something soulless, uninspired and shallow. It's a shame too, I would hope this would be an eye opener for them, especially when they see stock prices fall and all that, but seeing the same thing happen with other studios I don't even have faith that they'll learn from this. For me, other studios are an indicator that we'll probably get the same or worse in their next launch and no lessons will be learned.

 

[WilliamSternritter]

All this fallout is not on the developers but the higher ups.

Well, I'm just not convinced that some board member walked into a developer meeting one morning and said; some keys will not be re-bindable kurwa, and make action F in particular. Or you are all fired.

 

[IskrasFemme]

This according to Bloomerang, which has a long history of sensational stories and very poorly written things and that, the press, will never be a parameter of 'truths', they also have their private interests, in fact, they are private bodies ...

The most common in these types of headlines and sensational content is that they always 'hear about it', a 'mysterious without identity said' or 'the friend of the neighbor's Parrot told me' ...

Nothing against using it as a reference, now, you have to have the common sense not to fall into the provocations of those who wanted to sell or win with console sales at Christmas, especially this commercial and living press and gossip without facts ...

 

[Cloud7]

It's funny, before Fallout 4 I'd never heard of Jason and I didn't believe a thing he said. Then Fallout 4 released and I was like, "Wow, how does this guy get such great sources and accuracy". Fast forward to Cyberpunk 2077 and again the man is spot on with everything.

He definitely showed to be more trustworthy than CDPR's management. I sincerely hope the developers are able to take more power in the company going forward, because it's obvious from a lot of the content that was cut that they had a great vision, but none of it was allowed to make it to the final product. The previous backstories, the gameplay features that were mentioned, the caliber of gameplay touted, all of it would have culminated in a GOTY, perhaps Game of the Decade, entry.

None of that entered the final product and we were left with something soulless, uninspired and shallow. It's a shame too, I would hope this would be an eye opener for them, especially when they see stock prices fall and all that, but seeing the same thing happen with other studios I don't even have faith that they'll learn from this. For me, other studios are an indicator that we'll probably get the same or worse in their next launch and no lessons will be learned.

Sadly i think you are spot on with this. Guess the glory days of CDPR IF they do not take a lesson from this are over. Once you reach a certain point its either money or quality. And EA shows you can produce one garbage game after another and still cash in like crazy.

 

[soot00]

This according to Bloomerang, which has a long history of sensational stories and very poorly written things and that, the press, will never be a parameter of 'truths', they also have their private interests, in fact, they are private bodies ...

The most common in these types of headlines and sensational content is that they always 'hear about it', a 'mysterious without identity said' or 'the friend of the neighbor's Parrot told me' ...

Nothing against using it as a reference, now, you have to have the common sense not to fall into the provocations of those who wanted to sell or win with console sales at Christmas, especially this commercial and living press and gossip without facts ...

Xbox just announced they are offering full refunds as well.

If you were an employee of CDProjekt would you not be frustrated, angry and concerned right now? I sure would be.

 

[IskrasFemme]

'Speanking out'

'- yesterday, i got a call from a developer and administrative head of the CD and they told me they are building a rocket to go to Mars. I cannot reveal my source, as this would expose her identity ... and she could suffer retaliation ...'

Ah, ok ...

 

[Myajha]

This according to Bloomerang, which has a long history of sensational stories and very poorly written things and that, the press, will never be a parameter of 'truths', they also have their private interests, in fact, they are private bodies ...

The most common in these types of headlines and sensational content is that they always 'hear about it', a 'mysterious without identity said' or 'the friend of the neighbor's Parrot told me' ...

Nothing against using it as a reference, now, you have to have the common sense not to fall into the provocations of those who wanted to sell or win with console sales at Christmas, especially this commercial and living press and gossip without facts ...

You're not wrong about Bloomberg, but I also don't see the devs being particularly happy about being forced to work overtime (something the company admitted to), the game being released not ready (which the company admitted to), and that bonuses were being held behind review walls (which the company admitted to).

None of this is new and original, it's been all admitted to by the company, publicly. The only new thing here is the frustration of the devs... which one shouldn't be surprised about.

 

[IskrasFemme]

Xbox just announced they are offering full refunds as well.

If you were an employee of CDProjekt would you not be frustrated, angry and concerned right now? I sure would be.

Now you talk about refunds... amazing, next hour ll be about AIs? Just stop!

Post automatically merged: Dec 18, 2020

You're not wrong about Bloomberg, but I also don't see the devs being particularly happy about being forced to work overtime (something the company admitted to), the game being released not ready (which the company admitted to), and that bonuses were being held behind review walls (which the company admitted to).

None of this is new and original, it's been all admitted to by the company, publicly. The only new thing here is the frustration of the devs... which one shouldn't be surprised about.

I dont think so i have opinions and Bloomerang, what i use yestarday to ilustrate something, its not 'owner of truths'.

 

[Scryar]

I think anybody he works or worked in the tech industry knows how bad the situation in many companies is.
Imo the main issue is that the management often has no clue about how difficult it is to create a complex product. Most of them studied something like business administration and have no IT background. They just don't understand that creating a game or any other product on that scale will always have unforseen complications which leads to the devs not being able to stick to deadlines (which are often way too short anyway). They are then expected to work overtime, are under constant pressure to solve the issues, which leads to burnout. The only expectaions I experienced were companies in which the project managers also had a IT background. They usually had a way more realistic view on the development.

 

[jt4gov]

Sadly i think you are spot on with this. Guess the glory days of CDPR IF they do not take a lesson from this are over. Once you reach a certain point its either money or quality. And EA shows you can produce one garbage game after another and still cash in like crazy.

That's the thing. We're in an age where FIFA, Madden and CoD have yearly releases and sell as well as they do. I have no hope for learned lessons or improved products when they're rewarded for the opposite.

Their game is being refunded and was delisted from Sony, but let's be honest. They recouped their sunk profits and then some by just their preorders alone. Their stocks took a massive hit of around 30+%, but so what? They'll without a doubt bounce back and will be even higher.

 

[Vingolf]

This according to Bloomerang, which has a long history of sensational stories and very poorly written things and that, the press, will never be a parameter of 'truths', they also have their private interests, in fact, they are private bodies ...

The most common in these types of headlines and sensational content is that they always 'hear about it', a 'mysterious without identity said' or 'the friend of the neighbor's Parrot told me' ...

Nothing against using it as a reference, now, you have to have the common sense not to fall into the provocations of those who wanted to sell or win with console sales at Christmas, especially this commercial and living press and gossip without facts ...

This is the same writer who wrote for another site Kotaku and was right about Mass Effect:Andromeda before the news hit. In that he reported how they were going to kill the game and stop any DLC.

 

[IskrasFemme]

This is the same writer who wrote for another site Kotaku and was right about Mass Effect:Andromeda before the news hit. In that he reported how they were going to kill the game and stop any DLC.

Mere especulation, worst, using 'misterious one'... i talk with a Dev yestarday too... but, i can reveal your identity

It doesn't matter, from this sensationalist press that lives as a parasite of other people's sales, including consoles, I don't even trust the date ... but do I trust the unions, at least the developers, have they said something about? I would trust them more ...