Cyberpunk 2077 Publisher Orders 6-Day Weeks(bloomberg.com)
bloomberg.com
Cyberpunk 2077 Publisher Orders 6-Day Weeks
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-29/cyberpunk-2077-publisher-orders-6-day-weeks-ahead-of-game-debut
14 comments
To be fair what is being ordered is a 48 hour work week. They’re not allowed to work more than 8 hours a day, six days a week, and it’s (I believe) legally time-limited. It’s a stretch to say they should be “pilloried” for this, since their “crunch time” doesn’t sound anything like what American companies impose.
US game studios usually have 50-60 hour standard weeks, with crunch being far in excess of that (see, e.g., EA Spouse's account, or the accounts of Riot Games developers).
So a 48-hour "crunch" week is still less than the standard US game dev work week.
So a 48-hour "crunch" week is still less than the standard US game dev work week.
This isn't an EA Spouse situation.
EA Spouse's partner was working 70+ hr weeks, unpaid. It was just straight worker exploitation.
Here (as I understand it), everyone's getting paid overtime and while it's a big ask of the employees, there is something genuinely different about creative endeavors. A few months of 48 hour weeks isn't good for long term creative output, but it's somewhere in the realm of reasonable.
It'd be good to have some better incentives for management to resource and schedule properly (time and a half @ 40hrs, double time @ 48, quadruple time @ 60 would seem an obvious economic stick), but if employees are getting paid fairly I think this is ok. Hope the game is great, and that everyone who is putting in the extra work feels tonnes of pride of authorship in this game. I'm looking forward to it.
It'd be good to have some better incentives for management to resource and schedule properly (time and a half @ 40hrs, double time @ 48, quadruple time @ 60 would seem an obvious economic stick), but if employees are getting paid fairly I think this is ok. Hope the game is great, and that everyone who is putting in the extra work feels tonnes of pride of authorship in this game. I'm looking forward to it.
Everybody needs to calm down a bit. Poland has reasonable labour laws afaik. Overtime is paid and there are limits on the max hours of overtime.
And I don't know if its the same in Poland, but here in neighbouring Lithuania - employer can't really "force" you to do overtime, one has to agree to it.
I get that overtime sucks, but it's not unpaid US-like overtime in this case.
And I don't know if its the same in Poland, but here in neighbouring Lithuania - employer can't really "force" you to do overtime, one has to agree to it.
I get that overtime sucks, but it's not unpaid US-like overtime in this case.
"This isn't as bad as [place which is known for being bad at stuff like this], therefore it is fine" is never a _particularly_ useful argument.
They promised they wouldn't do this, then they did it. That's bad.
They promised they wouldn't do this, then they did it. That's bad.
The only way to rationalize this terrible broken promise to employees is by comparing it to a country renown for its bad labour practices. It’s terrible. Plain and simple. Even if the US is worst than that.
Yes, that was my point. It's 48 hours vs 70 hours. It's not a crunch.
On a related note, most white collar professionals work 50 hour weeks. Every week.
On a related note, most white collar professionals work 50 hour weeks. Every week.
I feel like without some quotes from the dev team this feels very one-sided. It could be that the devs weren’t unhappy to do crunch if the trade offs are fair. I don’t think anyone in SV can say that they haven’t had to work crunch hours, usually with zero extra pay. I hope that there is extra bonus days off on top of the extra pay.
I respectfully disagree with your point. This is trying to force a middle ground when the reporting here is straightforward: the company is untrustworthy. They announced no crunch earlier this year, and now they’re breaking their promise.
Hearing from developers happy with their employer lying to them in front of the whole world would only serve to pretend a company breaking a promise is A-OK. It’s not.
Hearing from developers happy with their employer lying to them in front of the whole world would only serve to pretend a company breaking a promise is A-OK. It’s not.
Same story from The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/29/21494499/cyberpunk-2077-d... .
My heart skipped a beat, I thought CP2077 was delayed again.
I’d rather management delay again than go against their word and order a crunch.
Especially because I will not be surprised if — and am almost expecting thar — management realizes 6 day workweeks won’t cut it alone and additionally delay the release again. And who wins in that scenario?
Clearly they need more time. The game will only be worse off from rushing it — on top of the larger point that all of their talent (and customers) were lied to.
Especially because I will not be surprised if — and am almost expecting thar — management realizes 6 day workweeks won’t cut it alone and additionally delay the release again. And who wins in that scenario?
Clearly they need more time. The game will only be worse off from rushing it — on top of the larger point that all of their talent (and customers) were lied to.
Maybe they think they’ll kill their own hype if they delay again. This makes me think they sent Sony and M$ incomplete games and will require a massive day one patch to add the rest.
In any event, I’m expecting postmortems from defectors once the game ships. I’m curious as to why they’ve had so many delays. One obvious variable is COVID-19 but mismanagement sounds like a candidate as well.
In any event, I’m expecting postmortems from defectors once the game ships. I’m curious as to why they’ve had so many delays. One obvious variable is COVID-19 but mismanagement sounds like a candidate as well.
CD Projekt Red should be pilloried in the gaming press for its callous backpedaling. My heart goes to all those developers who were lied to.