As we near the release of both the PS5 and Xbox Series X, “crunch” time for developers has surfaced as a point of debate in the gaming world yet again. On Wednesday morning, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Programming Team Lead Gavin Young expressed his frustration on the issue.
The discussion restarted earlier this week thanks to Cyberpunk 2077. A new report indicated developers CDProjekt RED is pushing its team to work six days a week. The full launch of the next title from The Witcher 3 devs is due out next month. It’s already been delayed twice.
It appears CDPR is doing everything it can to avoid a third delay. However, the way higher-ups are going about avoiding a delay is frustrating others around the industry.
Young took to Twitter and was blunt about his feelings.
Indeed, “crunch” in general got more attention this year than perhaps any in recent memory. Some of that is preparation for a new generation of console. Some of it was the coronavirus pandemic upending literally everything.
To Crunch or Not to Crunch on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Whatever the reason, there’s been a bigger focus from everyone in the industry on the working conditions developers deal with. For the most part, the community has been understanding. On the other hand, there have been plenty of angry “gamers” who want their game when they want it and think devs should be prepared for 70-hour work weeks.
Young, and others like him have, understandably, had enough of that mentality.
duh better game = more money for the devs!
— Mitch Dyer (@MitchyD) September 30, 2020
