CD Projekt RED Unhappy With Cyberpunk 2077 QA; Quantic Lab Employees Speak Out
Quantic Lab, the company involved in testing of Cyberpunk 2077, was alleged to have knowingly lied to the developer about the experience of its employees. The affair is making waves.
At the end of June it came to light that CD Projekt RED may have been misled by Quantic Lab, one of the entities involved in the testing of Cyberpunk 2077. Quantic Lab subsequently issued a vague statement, in which it presented its own stance. Some time has passed and it turns out that this is not the end of the affair. PC Gamer reached out to current and former Quantic Lab employees, who shed some more light on the whole affair.
Inexperienced testers
CD Projekt RED worked with various companies in the context of testing Cyberpunk 2077 prior to its release - Quantic Lab accounted for about one-third of the entire staff, which was tasked with the game's QA. In addition to Quantic Lab, CDPR's internal team and the Polish company QLOC were also involved in testing.
The contract between the studio and the Romanian company stated that the game would be tested by experienced professionals. However, one Quantic Lab employee told the PC Gamer website that:
"Out of a team of 30 people, only 10 employees had experience in QA."
He further added - regarding the question of the employees' experience - that none of them had previously worked in this position for more than a year.
CD Projekt was said to have let it be known more than once that it was not satisfied with the quality of the work Quantic Lab was providing. According to sources reached by PC Gamer, during discussions with the Polish studio employees of the company performing game testing were said to have avoided discussing the actual level of experience of the testers.
While testing Cyberpunk Quantic Lab also tested other games, which were also supposed to have suffered from the company's incompetence.
Bad situation at Quantic Lab
However, this is not the end of bitter words aimed at Quantic Lab. According to some employees, the employer was said to have treated them disrespectfully, with management saying outright that game testing is a job for unqualified people. Some also mention wages too low to pay for an apartment near the company.
One whistleblower recalls working at Quantic Lab so badly that he said the employer should pay for his therapy. The work situation was said to have affected the employee's mental health so much that he hated gaming and lost his passion for his job.
CD Projekt RED recently announced that it intends to thoroughly test all future games on every platform, rather than exclusively on developer PCs. Arguably, this will affect development times, but perhaps this is what will avoid the situation that befell the players shortly after the release of Cyberpunk, especially on PS4.
