CD Projekt Red CEO apologises to staff for downplaying Cyberpunk 2077 crunch to investors

After telling investors that crunch "is not that bad," CD Projekt Red leadership has now turned around to employees to apologise.

Following its decision to delay Cyberpunk 2077 to December, developer CD Projekt Red hosted an emergency call with investors to discuss the delay, and update them on the company's plans.

As part of that call, CD Projekt Red leadership said that PC and next-gen console versions of Cyberpunk 2077 are ready, but that the delay is caused by the current-gen console versions.

It was also there that company CEO Adam Kicinski addressed reports of the studio going into mandatory crunch, which the company said will see employees "well compensated."

"Regarding crunch; actually, it’s not that bad – and never was," Kicinski told investors.

"Of course it’s a story that has been picked up by the media, and some people have been crunching heavily, but a large part of the team is not crunching at all since they have finished their work; it’s mostly about Q&A and engineers, programmers - but it’s not that heavy; of course, it will be extended a bit, but we have feedback from the team; they’re happy about the extra three weeks, so we don’t see any threats regarding crunch."

Kicinski's comments were poorly received, particularly by the many at CD Projekt Red who felt they misrepresented the facts. The CEO, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, turned around to apologise to his employees the day after.

"From the bottom of my heart, I would like to apologise to everyone for what I said during Tuesday's investor conference call," Kicinski wrote in an internal email.

"I had not wanted to comment on crunch, yet I still did, and I did it in a demeaning and harmful way. Truth be told, it's only now, when the stress connected with the delay decision and the call itself is lifting, that I'm fully realising the true extent of my words.

"I have nothing to say in my defence. What I said was not even unfortunate, it was utterly bad. For that, please accept my most sincere and honest apologies. I always was, and am still, proud of the heart and soul you put into what you do every day."

Cyberpunk 2077 is set for release December 10 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Stadia.