Marcin Iwiński (the CEO of the company) and Adam Badowski touched upon multiple subjects in their interview by Kotaku.

They confirmed that they have money (debunking rumours about them having financial issues), but they admitted they had challenging times changing technology from The Witcher 3 to Cyberpunk 2077: „It’s always the same story across the entire industry. If you’re changing the technology and at the same time you’re producing the game, it’s a nightmare for most of the companies.”

During the interview, the question of crunch (the heavy overtime working periods) has also surfaced. We have heard a lot of horror stories about it from Epic Games, NetherRealm Studios, and Rockstar Games (we discussed all of them before). Iwiński said that even though CD Projekt RED has similar times, it’s not going to be obligatory to participate, as the company tries to be „more humane” with its employees. (Others should take note of this approach…)

„We are known for treating gamers with respect. This is what we’ve been working hard toward. And I actually would [like] for us to also be known for treating developers with respect. We’ve been communicating clearly to people that of course there are certain moments where we need to work harder — like I think the E3 demo is a pretty good example — but we want to be more humane and treat people with respect. If they need to take time off, they can take time off. Nobody will be frowned upon if this will be requested. […] Making this commitment, I hope it shows that we are treating this matter very seriously,” they say. So they won’t get rid of the crunch, but they won’t make it obligatory either – however, social pressure from other employees could pull down those who want to avoid these scenarios…

Cyberpunk 2077 will be out at E3 this year, and CD Projekt RED is preparing for the event.

Source: WCCFTech