CD Projekt Red reveals practices from their early days before the success of ‘The Witcher 3’: “Nostalgia is deceptive”
The Polish studio admits to sleeping under their desks during work hours.
This isn’t an ideal scenario but a case of labor exploitation that has occurred in development studios worldwide. The notorious “crunch” culture has been prevalent in major productions. However, in recent years, movements among workers have driven changes within companies. CD Projekt Red, the creators of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077, have not been immune to these issues. CEOs Michał Nowakowski and Adam Badowski have openly discussed the matter, acknowledging their challenging past (source: GamesRadar+).
It all dates back to the development of the first The Witcher, a classic PC RPG. “Nostalgia is deceptive—it paints everything in rosy hues,” Nowakowski commented. Badowski added, “Recently, I’ve reassessed my romanticized view of the past. We often slept under our desks at the office and worked chaotically. The feeling of being underdogs was incredibly motivating.” They pushed through to transform CD Projekt Red into the industry giant it is today.
Nowakowski also reflected, “We once flew to London for a very important meeting. We showed up at the reception desk and overheard the person we were supposed to meet telling the secretary to say they had left. That doesn’t happen to us anymore.”
Cyberpunk 2077: a turning point?
Crunch culture at CD Projekt Red is not a relic of the distant past. The launch of Cyberpunk 2077 was particularly grueling, prompting the company to take steps to ensure The Witcher 4 doesn’t turn into another nightmare for developers. The studio recently communicated with MeriStation, outlining their updated approach moving forward. “Unfortunately, workload accumulation before major events is common in our industry. What we can do to minimize the need for overtime is pay well and provide clear explanations to employees. We continually monitor the extra workload on projects,” Nowakowski explained.
They have implemented measures “to help reduce” crunch. “When working on the Phantom Liberty expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, we also changed our production methods. As a result, we were able to launch it with minimal overtime, incomparable to previous projects,” he emphasized.
The next installment in The Witcher series has been revealed through a teaser trailer, though its release is not expected until 2027.
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