Crunch is inevitable for huge games like Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077's delay to September doesn't really give the team more breathing room, but more opportunity to crunch and double-down their efforts.

CD Projekt RED is shockingly transparent about their demands of dev teams, confirming that workers will indeed crunch on Cyberpunk 2077 over the next five months. This final stretch will punctuate what's already likely been lots of overtime as CDPR continues investing tens of millions of dollars into the project.

"Developers will crunch to some degree, to some degree. We're trying to limit crunch as much as possible, but you know it's the final stretch. We try to be reasonable in this regard. But yes [they will crunch] unfortunately," CDPR President Adam Kicinski said in a recent investors call.

Cyberpunk 2077 is CDPR's biggest game, after all, and an immensely complex endeavor full of unique technical problems and issues to solve. It's their first new game in the last five years and there's so much riding on its success.

To date, CD Projekt RED has invested tremendous man-hours into Cyberpunk 2077. The team re-tooled their RED Engine with high-end next-gen tech like real-time AI, impressive facial animations, flying cars, new lighting and physics effects, and the most radical adjustment of them all: First-person shooter mechanics.

The game is immensely ambitious and aims to not only pass The Witcher 3's mastery and become the next pinnacle of RPGs, but also serve as the studio's "crowning jewel."

With this kind of weight, it's only natural crunch becomes a mainstay for Cyberpunk 2077's team, along with all of the stress, missed family time, and long sleepless nights.