Summary
- CD Projekt Red aims to avoid crunch for Cyberpunk 2077 sequel by prioritizing planning and compensating extra effort.
- Developers may be encouraged to take time off after putting in extra hours, minimizing the impact of crunch.
- Project Orion, the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, will allegedly be developed with a focus on team well-being and planning to prevent issues seen in the first game.
The sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 seems to have already learned an important lesson from its predecessor and, with it, is hoping to avoid the first game’s biggest and worst mistake. The release of CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG was a reputation scandal, despite the large sales figures. At launch, the product was plagued by bugs and other technical problems, mostly on the past-gen consoles. Aside from the technical issues that affected customers, the game was wrapped in problems with development, such as the crunch imposed on employees to deliver the title on time – when it was clearly not ready.
According to a new report by Rebekah Valentine on IGN, featuring the Phantom Liberty game director Gabe Amatangelo, CD Projekt Red may be keen on avoiding crunch moving forward, based on the state of development of the base game, as well as the example of how the critically-acclaimed and game-changing Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 was created with a different development process. Amatangelo cites planning as the core of the change. “It’s all about getting ahead of seeing what might come up in the future and scoping accordingly, resourcing accordingly, and also being flexible,” mentions Amatangelo to IGN.
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CD Projekt Red Wants To Avoid The Toll On Its Employees
There is an unspoken acknowledgment that development processes for games on the scale of a Cyberpunk 2077, for instance, are complicated, but the idea for CD Projekt Red moving forward, however, seems to be mitigating and compensating the extra effort put into the process. “If you put in some extra hours this week, take some hours off next week. […] You do the best you can to mitigate that, but as long as there’s that kind of climate and understanding of helping each other.”
According to Amatangelo, this could be a way of taking off the pressure during crunch periods.
It is possible that this would not completely eliminate crunch itself, but it would not force developers to actually go through long periods of crunch. Instead, the idea is to lean into planning to avoid it altogether, but put in extra effort when needed, and then compensate for that effort with some time off. Amatangelo also cites having backup plans to help whenever the main plans derail, in addition to communication and synergy with the rest of the team. This type of mentality should ease the development process for Project Orion, Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel.
Little is currently known about the next game set in the futuristic world crafted by Mike Pondsmith and adapted by CD Projekt. Project Orion will be developed by a new studio in the company set in Boston, rather than in Poland. It is uncertain what the game will portray and for what generation of consoles it aims to be released. Nevertheless, the understanding that the well-being of the people making the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is of the utmost importance seems like a promising sign and may result in a product that avoids a tough release like its predecessor had.
Source: IGN
Cyberpunk 2077
- Franchise
- Cyberpunk
- Released
- December 10, 2020
- Publisher(s)
- CD Projekt
- ESRB
- M
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
