“A colleague went home for the weekend, only to wash his things” – the creator of The Witcher recalls the working conditions

As we know, Cyberpunk 2077 was created – and, of course, "finished" – In an atmosphere of a tunnel (overtime). The same can be said about the previous works of the CD Projekt RED studio. However, the finalization of the game in megacorporation, into which the Reds turned into, is somewhat different from a relatively small studio with which they started.

When creating the first "Witcher" The developers also remained in the office after a working day. Arthur Ganshinets, who was a leading narrative designer, spoke a little about those times. He began his story with how some of his colleagues in the company coped with the workload. Some were decided on truly radical measures only to save a few hours a week – and then be able to devote them to work.

To the question of how true the stories are, that by the end of work on The Witcher they almost did not leave the office that they slept under the tables, that someone bought clothes in Arkadia [shopping center in Warsaw] to change clothes, he said the following :

I think there is a big fraction of the truth in this. One of my colleagues went home for the weekend, only to wash things. We had a shower in the company; He had a sleeping bag and mattress, because he lived near Warsaw, and he was unprofitable to return, because he was quite a long time, and he finished late and started early. It lasted about three months. I seemed to have two weeks during which I returned home about 1-2 hours in the morning and returned to work by 8-9 hours.

To the statement that "two weeks" They do not sound so dramatic, and what in the industry they often say about a multi -month, grueling crane, the Hanshinets added:

I think if I functioned for three months so that I slept for 5-6 hours and also worked, I would die, no? It was a three -month -old penny – twelve hours, including the weekend – but this "stress", as a job for sixteen hours at a time, fortunately, I had "Total" two weeks.

These three months – and especially these fourteen "hardcore" days – led Adam Hanshinets to make a difficult but understandable decision. Years later the director seems to be pleased with him.

In any case, this is the reason I left from CD Projekt. When I realized that on the second "Witcher" There will be a blockage that will last six months, I came to the conclusion that I can’t afford it either in life or in health, that I am not interested. And I left. Of course, these are complex projects for forecasting and planning. I think that sometimes it happens that at the end I have to sit down for work, even for the weekend – I have no problems with this. But if [the development of the game] is planned in such a way that someone with a certain share of prudence sees that this cannot be done in a certain time, it means that this is planned for a frame. And if you plan to be under the frame, then I am against this. This is an unhealthy and dishonest approach to production and to people.

This can be summarized by the fact that the goal does not always justify the means. On the other hand, if you look at the subsequent fate of the CD Projekt RED studio, and in particular, the success of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and, no matter what – Cyberpunk 2077, words are coming to the mind that the winners are not judged. Nevertheless, it is a pity that more people in our industry do not share the approach of Adam Hanshinz to Kranch – from this the developers and gamers would have won from this.