Cyberpunk 2077: Journalists called out for allegedly fabricating 'crunch narratives' for clicks

Studio Projekt Red's upcoming magnum opus, 'Cyberpunk 2077', is one of the most anticipated games of the year and is scheduled to release on the 19th of November.

While the hype surrounding the game continues to remain astronomical, the past few days have been rather forgetful for the makers of the game. This is due to the 'Crunch debate,' which all began when a prominent game journalist for Bloomberg, Jason Schreier, reported that CD Projekt Red has made it mandatory for employees to work overtime.

Crunch is often used to denote a period of excessive overtime, which is usually imposed to hasten up the process leading up to the official release date. When it comes to Cyberpunk 2077, the reason why this is so controversial is due to the alleged hypocrisy of the makers, as they had previously assured employees that they would not have to work overtime.

However, this turned out to be a false sense of assurance, as according to Jason Schreier, the Studio Head of CD Projekt Red sent out an entirely different mail to employees:

Schreier's recent tweets come in the light of mounting criticism, as a section of the online community believes that the Cyberpunk 2077's image has now been marred by his controversial report.

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CD Projekt Red Employees speak out in defense of Cyberpunk 2077

In a recent video by Jeremy Habley of TheQuartering, he addresses the entire 'Crunch fiasco,' which seems to be surrounding Cyberpunk 2077. He goes on to call out numerous journalists who have reported on this issue.

He debunks the allegations against the makers of Cyberpunk 2077 and goes on to address the heart of the matter:

"The reality is that CD Projekt Red employees voted, they had the option to extend the game another six weeks pr work six days a week to get the game done . They overwhelmingly voted in favour of finishing the game. These game journalists wrote these pieces and it affected them so negatively that they were actually afraid to celebrate the game going gold".

"To be fair, I am sure that there are companies where crunch is taken advantage of but this just wasn't the case, this was a case of an absolute thirst for clickbait. "

For further proof that it was a decision taken willingly by Cyberpunk 2077 employees themselves, take a look at this tweet, which involves a clip from Game Informer:

In the clip, one of the spokespersons can be heard speaking about the difference in Polish work atmospheres and how most of the employees at CD Projekt Red do not see this as a 'Crunch situation':

"In terms of crunch, everyone I talked to over there, has not seen it as a crunch and from what I'm understanding is that it wasn't just a random drop , there was a discussion beforehand about weighing the different options. "

Jason Schreier's aforementioned tweet on Cyberpunk 2077 seems to have touched upon a real raw nerve, as several from the online community criticized him for trying to spin his own 'malicious' narrative:

Check out some of the reactions online:

Despite the backlash, Jason Schreier continues to stand by his ground and the fact that there was no 'element of choice involved, while making the Crunch decision:

Irrespective of the Crunch controversy which Cyberpunk 2077 currently finds itself embroiled in, the hype surrounding the game continues to be immense, as November 19th draws closer.

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