Phantom Liberty director says CD Projekt Red has "a very healthy work-life balance right now"
Studio has reportedly made good on its promise to reduce crunch after Cyberpunk 2077 troubles
Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox
CD Projekt Red has significantly improved the work-life balance of its employees, following a number of crunch complaints over the years.
That's according to Gabe Amantangelo, the director for upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty, who told Bloomberg that the company has delivered on its promise regarding overworking its employees.
The director said there are new policies in place to prevent burnout among its developers, including a system that alerts management if any member of the team is working for prolonged periods.
He added that any employee requesting to work extra hours is only permitted to do so to a certain degree.
"Fortunately, it's a very healthy work-life balance right now," said Amantangelo.
Bloomberg reports that lower-level members of staff have confirmed this, although added that work-life balance at CD Projekt Red is still a complicated issue overall.
CD Projekt Red has been facing complaints of crunch, low pay and more since 2017, when negative reviews on recruitment platform Glassdoor suggested an intense working environment during the making of The Witcher 3.
The company promised a "non-obligatory crunch policy" for staff in May 2019, but joint-CEO Adam Kiciński confirmed in a January 2020 investor call that employees had been required to crunch on the development of Cyberpunk 2077 – something that was reaffirmed in September.
Amantangelo pointed to the longer development cycle for Phantom Liberty, arriving two years after the base game's launch rather than within a year, as was the case with The Witcher 3's expansions.
However, it's worth noting this may partly be down to the amount of time needed to address the many technical shortcomings Cyberpunk 2077 suffered from at launch.
"The commitment to [reducing crunch] from a board level is something else, really," he said. "I was struck by the humility and willingness to change."