TGO Daily | October 1, 2020 | CD Projekt Implements Mandatory Crunch
Stories of crunch culture in the gaming industry have become so prevalent that it’s impossible to keep track of it all. Many of the times I choose not to report on it, because nothing new is introduced besides whose at fault.
It’s also my job to fill you in on what people are talking about. And people are talking about CD Projekt. Cyberpunk has already been delayed 7 months already, backed by a very public statement that crunch would never again happen within the company. Woops.
Support the developers however you choose, but make no mistake: the gaming industry is systemically abusive. It’s in desperate need of unions.
Until tomorrow,
Adrian
Listen on YouTube:
Or the podcast host of your choice!
Quick Links
Story Breakdowns
Before we get to the stories — an addendum to yesterday: Epic Games and Apple have jointly requested that their litigation does not proceed to a jury. I’m not educated enough to know what the complexities are past that, but it’s now possible that this issue will stay as a bench trial.
CD Projekt Red enforces mandatory crunch
I tried to avoid this story yesterday, but it’s impossible to ignore at this point. According to Bloomberg, CD Projekt Red told employees on Monday that mandatory six-day work weeks were going to be implemented in order to finish Cyberpunk 2077. The decision is particularly notable, as the company had previously (and publicly) promised not to force overtime to complete the game. Sources within the company say that some people have been working extra nights and weekends for more than a year.
“I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision…I know this is in direct opposition to what we’ve said about crunch. It’s also in direct opposition to what I personally grew to believe a while back — that crunch should never be the answer. But we’ve extended all other possible means of navigating the situation.”
— Studio head, Adam Badowski
As always with these stories, it’s important to note that this is not an isolated incident at any scale. Regardless of how nicely management tries to phrase it, crunch culture is still a massive issue within the gaming industry. Even in “voluntary overtime” situations, an expectation is set by management (and by fellow employees) that everyone is responsible to work more than usual.
At the very least, CD Projekt will be paying for all overtime worked, which isn’t always the case. I still refuse to believe them when they say that “all other possible means” have been explored though.'
Among Us ripples to Discord
As you probably know by now, Among Us has become a surprise hit of 2020, and it looks like Discord is a getting a piece of that pie as well. Since it is a social deduction game, players are encouraged to turn to external voice chats, as there isn’t one in-game.
This chart shows daily downloads for Discord since 2015. As you can see, they’re not just doing well, they’re doing extremely well. This just goes to show how influential Among Us has become — after already having hit 1.5 million concurrent players. If I were Discord, I’d start looking at funding some more games of that ilk.
More details about Spider-Man: Remastered
You may recall that with the Ultimate Edition of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the developers are including a remastered version of the first Spider-Man game from 2018. That is the only way to get it, for now.
Today they gave a few more details about it. Chief among them: Peter Parker is getting re-casted and re-modeled. While voice acted by Yuri Lowenthal, he was originally portrayed by John Bubniak. This time around, they’re using Ben Jordan as the face model, who (not-so) coincidentally looks a little bit more like Tom Holland from the movies. The official word is that they chose Jordan because he’s a “better match” to Lowenthal’s voice.
Alongside the re-cast is more graphical fidelity, and a “Performance Mode” which brings the game to 60fps. Insomniac also says that they’ve basically removed loading screens all-together, but that you can turn them back on if you still want to see the comedic bits they threw in there. Finally, they’re introduced many new photo mode features, which were originally developed for Miles Morales.
Once again, to play the remaster you need to purchase the Ultimate Edition of Miles Morales for $70.
Also In The News
Niantic to permanently keep some Pokemon Go changes from pandemic
Nintendo not removing Jump Rope Challenge from the eShop as planned
Stadia adds “Crowd Choice” — Twitch integration for viewers to interact
Get In Touch
That’s all for today folks! Thanks for being here, and please let me know if you have any suggestions for the newsletter :)
You can always message me simply by replying to this email, and I’ll do my best to get back to you.
You can also find me on Twitter, or join our Discord community.
DCCCVIII