Cyberpunk 2077: CD Projekt's answer to Schreier's report arrives
The report sketched the profile of an extremely self-confident company, which ended up colliding with "out-of-control ambitions, technical problems and unrealistic deadlines". He also spoke of employees who were very wary of the release date, which they considered too early, perfectly aware of bugs and technical problems, and above all induced to work overtime even though they were not mandatory. There was also talk of a certain degree of marginalization in the ranks of the studio, with Polish developers speaking in their own language excluding their international colleagues, as well as a development that began only in 2016 (against an announcement in 2012) and the 2018 demo, described as largely false.
A few hours ago came the comment of Adam Badowski, head of the Polish firm, who answered three different questions raised by Schreier's report. To begin with, Badowski sends back the criticisms addressed to the "fake demo", explaining that it is common practice to bring to a show, two years before the release, a demonstration version that shows the potential of the game even if it is not taken from the final code. : "That doesn't mean it's fake. [...] What people reading your article may not know is that the games are not created in a linear fashion and only begin to resemble the finished product a couple of months earlier. If you look at that demo, yes, it's different, but that's why it says 'work in progress'. Our final game looks and plays much better than that demo. " Regarding the features announced and absent at launch, Badowski explains that "it is part of the creative process" and that "the features come and go while we evaluate whether they work or not", adding that we are talking about a game that in its version PC still took numerous 9s and 10s. Regarding the status of the console versions, CD Projekt RED takes on all its responsibilities, and is working hard to fix the problems as already reported in Marcin Iwinski's apology video.
Secondly, Badowski criticized the methodology used by Schreier, stating that the sample he spoke with cannot be considered representative of the reality of CD Projekt RED: "You spoke to 20 people, some of them are former employees, and only one chose not to remain anonymous. Not I would say they are 'most' of our 500+ developers, as you say. "
Finally, he wanted to clarify that no marginalization to the detriment of international collaborators has been made in the firm's ranks: "Everyone speaks English during the meetings, every email from the company and announcement is in English - all this is The general rule is to speak English whenever there is a person unable to speak a certain language in a conversation. However, it is quite normal to speak German with Germans, Polish with Poles, Spanish with Spaniards - there there are 44 different nationalities in the studio - when there is no one else around. We work in a multicultural environment. Yes, it is difficult to move to another country, to another culture, and to work and live there. But it is a universal problem faced by companies around the world, and we do our best to facilitate the transition. "
Immediate response from Jason Schreier, who commented Badowski's speech in this way: "Adam, I appreciate your response. As I'm sure you know, the team [CD Projekt, ed] has refused to answer my specific questions or grant an interview before my article was published. But, if you like it, I would like to know your opinion regarding the topics you have not clarified here, I would be happy to speak with you in any moment" . In short, the story is still far from being finished.
