CD Projekt Red Issues a Response to Negative Company Reviews

After a recent string of negative reviews on the jobs review board Glassdoor, CD Projekt Red has issued a joint statement from studio co-founder Marcin Iwinski and studio head Adam Badowski to address CD Projekt Red's alleged workplace woes—particularly with Crunch—and perhaps even problems with development for Cyberpunk 2077.

In recent days the studio's Glassdoor review score has been hit by reviews from current and former employees who complain that the studio's poor management and changing deadlines often create undue burden on employees and force more crunch. In response the joint statement from the two CD Projekt Red leaders addressed several issues including the recent silence surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, high-profile turnarounds in staff, and CD Projekt Red's approach to game development which curiously doesn't deny pushing for a high-pressure environment.

"You might have recently stumbled on information regarding morale here at the studio. We'd normally avoid commenting on company reviews on spaces like Glassdoor, but this time around — especially in light of the fact that we haven't communicated anything about Cyberpunk 2077 for a long time and saw some gamers getting worried about the project — we'd like to elaborate on a few things."

In regards to the departures they said, "So, does a departure, even a high profile one, mean that the project is in danger? One would need to be very courageous to base the future of an AAA role-playing game of such scope on one person (or a few people)."

However when it comes to CD Projekt Red's development, the statement doesn't shy away from some of the criticisms it's received recently stating, "This approach to making games is not for everyone. It often requires a conscious effort to 'reinvent the wheel' — even if you personally think it already works like a charm." They add, "But you know what? We believe reinventing that wheel every friggin' time is what makes a better game. It's what creates innovation and makes it possible for us to say we've worked really hard on something[.]"

CD Projekt Red currently averages (as of this writing) a 3.1 out of 5 stars on Glassdoor with 58 percent of reviewers approving of the studio's CEO. One current employee who reviewed the studio praised the talent and ambition of CD Projekt Red but issued a recurring criticism and ticked the studio for "unrealistic virtual deadlines, planning being made despite what developers say and putting people on unnecessary crunch."

A recent flurry of positive reviews have accused the bad reviews for being fake, but interestingly suggest that the hard work environment is a plus. One recent positive reviewer wrote, "The studio is certainly difficult to work at because of the nature of the development... The unwritten ethos is do not compromise. This leads to frequent change and oftentimes — yes production chaos[.]"