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A whistleblower at Quantic Labs paints a damning picture of thecompany and its contribution to Cyberpunk 2077
- Thread starter Shard Shinjuku
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I think this thread will be closed because its relation to CP2077 (also, I think this is not new? I feel I've been seeing this the entire past week, I don't know if there was a thread), but I think it touches a very interesting subject in QA teams and how they work.
not sure why other thread was locked simply because of it being a Forbes contributor article
Paul Tassi isn't some random
but yeah there isn't much info to go on here
Paul Tassi isn't some random
but yeah there isn't much info to go on here
Wasn't the original source some trash right wing clickbait channel?
a) A thread on this topic was made earlier and closed because of the source (a Forbes contributor article), but b) this thread should also be closed because all CP2077 news goes in the OT and not in its own thread and c) some poor QA firm gets thrown under the bus yet again. Zero chance CDPR was all "whoops! We released it like THAT? Wow, news to us!"
I don't mean that there isn't good outsourced QA. But if you are not going to check your own product after somebody else, then you should do the QA internally
This is honestly so fucking bullshit.
1. In big AAA products there are more than one QA contractor working on the game, this mf here is telling me that not only Quantic Labs lied but also all QA contractors?
2. CDPR at the end of the day is the one who should be supervising the state of the game and it would be pretty fucking obvious if Quantic Labs waa lying.
This has been going around my QA circle and literally everybody agrees it's pure bullshit.
Source: Me, someone who worked in a QA contractor company for AAA games.
1. In big AAA products there are more than one QA contractor working on the game, this mf here is telling me that not only Quantic Labs lied but also all QA contractors?
2. CDPR at the end of the day is the one who should be supervising the state of the game and it would be pretty fucking obvious if Quantic Labs waa lying.
This has been going around my QA circle and literally everybody agrees it's pure bullshit.
Source: Me, someone who worked in a QA contractor company for AAA games.
No Cyberpunks 2077 threads allowed. Want to talk about the game, go to the OT. Those are the rules here in ERA.
Yeah just hire multiple dozens of experienced people for very short contracts, that'll be easy and possible
The real question is: How many of the big studios outsource the QA? Naughty Dog, Rockstar...etc
You'll be the right person to ask my next questions:
1- How much does it cost to have an internal QA department?
2- Does the big studios double check after outsourcing QA?
Almost all of them, and not just QA but art, animation, audio, etc etc. It's the done thing.
1. A lot. It's literally a department with hundreds of testers. Many studios prefer to just outsource it.
2. Of course. QA outsourcing is always working side by side with studios to align the priorities of bugs and what areas should be tested and what not. Also literally all bug reports go to (or SHOULD go to) the Studio JIRA, they have 100% access to all bugs written.
I know you didn't ask me but I'm answering anyway since I worked on a QA contractor for AAA games.
Yea, big organisations also have centralised teams not only for QA, but also for 3D art, 2D art, animation, audio, localisation, and so on.
So, let's say a AAA studio comes out and says that they've had 200 people working on the game, they usually exclude mentioning that they probably had another few hundred people at least working on the game from the centralised teams. :)
honestly no idea, i only looked at the article. but now when i look again it seems like the original source was sent to that youtube channel, with Paul Tassi reporting it. didn't realise that. I thought it was Paul Tassi that got the source
A lot to the point massive studios can't afford it? Or they consider it not worth it?
And for the second point CDPR are bullshitting then. If the outsourcing work side by side then how it is possible for the outsourced QA to lie to them?
Feel free to answer even if I didn't ask you. I'll take more knowledge thank you
Blaming outsourced QA is typically deflection done by a game studio in order to take the heat off themselves. As mentioned earlier, every game in existence these days uses both internal and external QA teams, for big projects some studios even employ multiple QA teams.
A AAA game I worked on had easily over 250 QA people work on it at various points from my company alone and there were two other external QA houses on the project plus internal developer QA and internal publisher QA.
QA require diverse skillsets and diverse environment checks plus it's always a numbers game.
Even if this external QA company did a horrible job, CDPR is still managing the project and responsible for fixing the bugs that were getting reported, plus they undoubtedly had other QA teams on it.
It's not like an external team is handed a game build and then left alone either, as a Senior or Lead on QA projects I was in constant contact (including morning and evening check ups) with project managers from the developer and publisher side.
External QA is sometimes so granularly managed by Developers and Publishers that they request certain testers at an external QA company be brought on or taken off the project, for whatever reason they choose. In addition to that, external QA companies have KPIs to hit weekly, monthly, quarterly on every project involving bugs written, their severity, dupe rate, bug writing quality, areas of focus and more.
lmao wtf is that thumbnailPlease please please consider the source. They're problematic AT BEST.
I'd go as far as to say they're gamergate adjacent
I also work in the industry. You usually have a small set of test leads and a central QA team but you outsource the bulk of it so you can scale up and down as needed. You tend to use external teams you are partners with that you've worked with for many years and trust, you don't usually give things to a brand new partner just like that. If they're a new partner, you embed yourself in their team for a while and manage more closely until you're comfortable and even then there are plenty of processes in place and gates in place to smooth out the test cycles.
I can't imagine how stressful this can get! CDPR wants to bullshit their way out of it then
Just suck it up and say you fucked up. People are not stupid especially when people like you knows what goes in there and how it works
Appreciate your time and the info. Thank you very much :)
This just proves it even more. CDPR throwing the blame on the outsourced QA! Even if they did really lie its still isn't fair to let them take the whole responsibility of this fuckery since you GOT TO BE IN THERE TOO and monitor whats going on
I don't have enough experience in the gaming industry to answer this with 100% certainty (I worked for only 4 months as a QA), but I would think it's the former. Normally it's not worth it unless you have an QA team under your banner like Blizzard does with Raven. But take this answer with a grain of salt.
Exactly. During my 4 months stint on a contractor, management was pretty bad and they made me go around to 3 different AAA projects and ALL of them we had direct contact with the studios through our QA leads and supervisors. Also this thread here:
Basically confirms it.
For AAA games the workflow is like this (generally):
QA Contractors write bug reports > An internal QA department of the studio (normally like 5-10 peoples) screens the bug report > The bug report is sent to the developers.
The tweet confirms that CDPR had internal QA screening so they definitely knew about the state of the game, and also the devs knew if you see the twitter thread.
This article is just pure bullshit and is harmful for QA, they get enough shit as it is. I've been seeing a lot of people upset about this report in my QA circle during my stint as an QA.
There was already a thread for this yesterday and it was locked.
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[Forbes] Report Claims "Cyberpunk 2077" Bugs Weren’t Caught Because A QA Company Lied To CDPR Rumor
Edit: I put the Rumor tag because the youtuber claims the whistleblower is someone that currently works at Quantic Labs, but we only have the word of the Youtuber on it. More at Forbes...
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