Kicinski Apologizes to CD Projekt Red Employees
Jason Schreier revealed the content of an email sent by Adam Kicinski to the staff of CD Projekt RED. The CEO of the Polish company apologized for the words uttered during the Tuesday conference, de facto underplaying crunch in the company.
The recent announcement yet another delay of Cyberpunk 2077 undermined community's trust in CD Projekt REDo. Earlier reports, which some doubted, suddenly gained credibility. The next information definitely did not improve the mood of the gamers, and Adam Kicinski added fuel to the fire. Last Tuesday the president of CD Projekt hosted an investor call, during which he was supposed to state that the crunch in the studio wasn't and isn't "so bad". Apparently, he'd be better off not having said this, as the latest leak indicates. Jason Schreier received an e-mail sent by Kicinski to his employees, in which he apologizes to them for his statement from Tuesday. The Pole was supposed to describe his words as not unfortunate, but outright "bad", "demeaning and harmful":
"From the bottom of my heart, I would like to apologize to everyone for what I said during Tuesday's investor conference call. I had not wanted to comment on crunch, yet I still did, and I did it in a demeaning and harmful way. Truth be told, it'is only now, when the stress connected with the delay decision and the call itself is lifting that I'm fully realising the true extent of my words.
I have nothing to say in my defense. What I said was not even unfortunate, it was utterly bad. For that, please accept my most sincere and honest apologies."
Although one may appreciate such an apology, in practice it is another blow to the supporters of the Polish developer. Officially underestimating crunch and then apologizing for one's own words in an email to employees is somewhat bizarre. In the context of the backstage scandal, we can say that the times when CD Projekt RED enjoyed an almost unshakeable reputation as a company that respects players and employees are certainly gone. Even, hopefully, successful launch of Cyberpunk 2077 will not be enough to make the people forget about this. The game will launch (allegedly) on December 10, on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. On the same day we'll play the game on ninth generation platforms, although we'll be waiting for the real next-gen experience until the launch of a major update in 2021.
