Next ‘Witcher’ game’s director addresses studio crunch

Jason Slama, the director of Gwent and the recently announced Witcher game, has shared his thoughts on crunch culture at CD Projekt Red.

Shortly after the announcement from CD Projekt Red that a new Witcher game is currently in development, the Gwent director took to Twitter to confirm that he would be heading the new project.

In Slama’s initial tweet, he shared that he was “super thrilled” to be working on the next AAA Witcher game while also announcing that there are currently roles open for new members to join the team at CD Projekt Red.

In the replies, one user suggested that Slama had failed to mention the “horrible crunch and being treated like a dog” at the studio, to which he responded, “Never on my watch!”

Ahead of the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2020, it was revealed that CD Projekt Red employees were mandated to work a six-day workweek to get the RPG ready on time. The game underwent several delays, forcing employees to commit to overtime to get the game ready for launch.

Untitled Witcher game. Credit: CD Projekt RED

This led to discussions about “crunch culture” in the games industry, with many condemning the Polish developer for implementing such working conditions for its employees.

After the news came out, CD Projekt Red’s president and co-CEO Adam Kiciński said in an investor call that the Cyberpunk 2077 crunch was “not that bad”, but he apologised for the comments afterwards.

At this time, CD Projekt Red has yet to announce what the new Witcher game will be about, but the developer did reveal that it would be part of a new saga in the Witcher universe. Whether this means we’ll see new or returning characters, such as Geralt of Rivia and Ciri, is yet to be seen.

The developer did confirm that it would be ditching its REDengine in favour of Unreal Engine 5 to make the next Witcher game, and said it will be closely collaborating with Epic Games to “help tailor the engine for open-world experiences”.

In other news, here’s how to watch the Future Games Show: Spring Showcase.

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