The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 staff unionise after three waves of layoffs at CDPR this year
Oct. 7, 2023CD Projekt Red workers join unionisation efforts
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CD Projekt Redemployees have joined others in the Polish video game industry to unionise after three rounds of layoffs at theCyberpunk 2077studio. The unionising developers say their goal is “improving their workplace/industry standards in a way that has legal power and amplifies their voices".
The union, however, said the redundancies “created a tremendous amount of stress and insecurity, affecting our mental health and leading to the creation of this union in response. Having a union means having more security, transparency, better protection, and a stronger voice in times of crisis.”
According to the union’s statement, “The above shows how employers tend to view their interests to be in conflict with those of their employees. While employees are the ones creating value in this arrangement, they lack any decision power in company-structure-related matters. That is why we need to organise to enter those situations on equal footing.”
“We believe that the mass lay-offs are a danger to the gamedev industry and we believe that unionising is a way for us to preserve the industry’s potential,” concludes the statement.
As Eurogamer notes, the CD Projekt Red staff join with the nationwide union, OZZ IP, which is inviting video game industry staff from across Poland to join. That means that CD Projekt Red staff overseas, such as those working in their Vancouver office, aren’t covered by the union. The company’s management is supposedly aware of the union but has yet to respond.
CD Projekt Red have just releasedPhantom Liberty, the huge expansion to Cyberpunk 2077. But the studio have severalother games in the pipeline, including a multiplayer spinoff that wasalso on thin ice. Then there’s anew Witcher trilogy, aWitcher remake, and a mysterious new IP.
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Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel, however, will be made by thesame developer’s who turned the game around with Phantom Liberty.
Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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