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CDPR to layoff 100 people (around 9%) from now to Q1 2024

dex3108

dex3108

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Oct 26, 2017
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View: https://twitter.com/CDPROJEKTRED_IR/status/1684113671662841857?t=FtUcv49IW-IGSsNNEnBsiQ&s=19

To meet our own high expectations and ambitions to create the best role-playing games, we not only want to have the best people but also the right teams. What we mean by that is having teams that are built around our projects' needs; teams that are more agile and more effective. At this point in time, we're certain that for CD PROJEKT RED to grow, we need to be consistent in implementing that approach.

We've carefully assessed all teams in the company in terms of their expected contribution to the delivery of our strategy. There's no easy way to say this, but today we are overstaffed. We have talented people on board who are finishing their tasks and — based on current and expected project needs — we already know we don't have other opportunities for them in the next year. The outcome is the studio parting ways with around 100 people, which is roughly 9% of the entire team. This will not be immediate as some employees will be let go as late as Q1 2024 but, in the spirit of transparency, we've chosen to share the information now. We want team members to have ample time to process and adjust to the change, and we've also made sure to offer everyone a comprehensive severance package.
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www.cdprojekt.com

CD PROJEKT RED Organizational Update - CD PROJEKT

I have some news to share regarding the future shape of our teams and our game development philosophy. Those of you familiar with our strategy might remember that we have a lot going on at
www.cdprojekt.com www.cdprojekt.com
 
the lizard

the lizard

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Nov 1, 2017
1,898
business realities are business realities and it is what it is and that fuckin sucks but there's never any reason to imply that the people getting laid off are the "wrong" people, unless you're having an internal ghoul meeting
 
Kaim Argonar

Kaim Argonar

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Dec 8, 2017
2,297
Seems like the right path to do something that shitty but they miss with the way they worded the memo.
 
behOemoth

behOemoth

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Oct 27, 2017
5,863
The wording admits that the project leads fucked up again, but somehow they won't be punished… again:
 
Odesu

Odesu

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Oct 26, 2017
5,591
Are the morons who overstaffed their workforce with no way to actually retain that many people also going to lose their jobs?

No? Keep being payed millions, too? Alright, then.
 

Voodoopeople

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,905
Whilst I have a lot of sympathy with the devs who will lose their jobs, the reality of the situation is that studios need to adapt their staff count to match the products they are making, not adapt their products to maintain the staffing levels they have. So by definition, there will naturally be expansion and contraction of staffing levels, to a degree.

No doubt, when they ramp up development of then NEXT big game, they will recruit and expand once again. Until that point, I guess they don't need quite so many staff?
 
Nere

Nere

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Dec 8, 2017
2,225
Odesu said:
Implying that this is on the (lack of) talent of the workforce instead of the inane project management is incredibly tasteless and, frankly, dumb.
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Risev said:
I'm sure the regular devs are to blame.
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Ooof you are right I read this as we have talented people on "the board" as the board that makes the decisions, not on board. My bad, it's obviously the project managers who were at fault not the developers I read it wrong, I apologize.
 
plow

plow

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Oct 28, 2017
4,682
Odesu said:
Are the morons who overstaffed their workforce with no way to actually retain that many people also going to lose their jobs?
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Didn't CD Project Red had a major overhaul in basically every leading role department after Cyberpunk with several key people leaving?
 
Angie

Angie

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Nov 20, 2017
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To meet our own high expectations and ambitions to create the best role-playing games, we not only want to have the best people but also the right teams. What we mean by that is having teams that are built around our projects' needs; teams that are more agile and more effective. At this point in time, we're certain that for CD PROJEKT RED to grow, we need to be consistent in implementing that approach.
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83411d97-3abf-4fd9-9420-1155519ffe3b.gif
 
Ales34

Ales34

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Apr 15, 2018
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Voodoopeople said:
No doubt, when they ramp up development of then NEXT big game, they will recruit and expand once again. Until that point, I guess they don't need quite so many staff?
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It's been 3 years since Cyberpunk and 8 years since The Witcher 3. They've been actively working on the next Witcher game for a while now. One would think they will ramp up development of it now instead of later. Unless they intend to expand and crunch in the last year of its development, which wouldn't surprise me considering the studio in question.
 
Ananasas

Ananasas

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Jul 11, 2018
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Probably like every single company that restructures its just cost cutting and management change so make profits, probably they are burning more money than making
 
artsi

artsi

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Oct 26, 2017
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Sounds like a cookie cutter press release to me.

Layoffs suck but at least they promise good severance packages and advance notices. Hopefully the employees find new jobs soon (maybe even before their current employment ends).
 
Tovarisc

Tovarisc

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Oct 25, 2017
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artsi said:
Sounds like a cookie cutter press release to me.

Layoffs suck but at least they promise good severance packages and advance notices. Hopefully the employees find new jobs soon (maybe even before their current employment ends).
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Isn't Polish game development scene popping pretty well? Should have good opportunities out there, and having CDPR on your CV does help as even with all its issues it's one of current premium studios to work at.
 
Spesi

Spesi

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Apr 26, 2022
766
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That's a bit weird since afaik, they have multiple projects going on, right? Sounds like a panic move to please investors.
 
Yuntu

Yuntu

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Nov 7, 2019
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Maybe I am weird but whats wrong about the wording? To me that implies they have too many people and not much about the talent of the people.

Seems like normal PR speech to me.
 
Tovarisc

Tovarisc

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Oct 25, 2017
24,555
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Yuntu said:
Maybe I am weird but whats wrong about the wording? To me that implies they have too many people and not much about the talent of the people.

Seems like normal PR speech to me.
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Calling these devs "wrong people" is bit weird, like they are faulty somehow, but then to me it doesn't sound that abnormal corpo speech as I have heard that term in the past many times when someone hasn't gotten hired etc.

Edit: this is really first time for many here to hear that corpo speech expression? I thought it was common terminology, even when implication it comes with is shitty...
 
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Vash

Vash

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Oct 28, 2017
1,869
Yeah, the thing they're implying is simply terrible. I hope those affected find something new at a much better company soon. The CDPR heads are utter trash.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

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Oct 27, 2017
30,490
Tovarisc said:
Calling these devs "wrong people" is bit weird, like they are faulty somehow, but then to me it doesn't sound that abnormal corpo speech as I have heard that term in the past many times when someone hasn't gotten hired etc.
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I think this is a misread to be honest. They don't say 'the wrong people' they say they have the best people, but 'the wrong teams'. If you have 45 talented procedural tech artists but your next project doesn't need procedural tech or you have 50 network engineers who make the best multiplayer envirornments but you recently re-scoped and cancelled a load of multiplayer features in your next game then you have 'the wrong teams'. You can't just shift a team of industry leading multiplayer designers onto something else in a single player project for example.

I feel like this PR clearly puts the focus on the team makeup rather than the individuals but feels like everyone had a different reading. Dunno.
 
345

345

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Oct 30, 2017
7,511
Tovarisc said:
Calling these devs "wrong people" is bit weird, like they are faulty somehow, but then to me it doesn't sound that abnormal corpo speech as I have heard that term in the past many times when someone hasn't gotten hired etc.

Edit: this is really first time for many here to hear that corpo speech expression? I thought it was common terminology, even when implication it comes with is shitty...
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it doesn't literally call them "wrong people", it says they're overstaffed and don't have the right team structure. the statement is specifically about how it's not to do with individual ability.

sometimes i really wonder about reading comprehension on this site. i get that CDPR haven't warranted the benefit of the doubt, but come on.
 
TheHyde

TheHyde

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Oct 29, 2017
430
Surely with them moving to Unreal from RED Engine they dont need f.e. some specific game engine-related people. At a future point they will again need new different people who can better work with UE5.
 
Oski

Oski

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Jun 15, 2023
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Tovarisc said:
Calling these devs "wrong people" is bit weird, like they are faulty somehow
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While I don't like CDP for their lies, their fraud, and how they crunch their people, and while I think they should have worked harder to place those people on other projects and probably fire more management and executives first; I don't read this communiqué like that at all.

I don't think they are saying these people are wrong by themselves. Just that that they have a skillset that is not longer required for the new projects. Like maybe they have a couple of OpenGL renderer gurus, but because they cancelled their mobile projects they don't need OpenGL anymore. Or they hired 5 combat designers for a new tactics type game, that game has been canceled and they can't find a use for so much combat design.

Again, not defending CDP. But I do think the wording is saying the opposite of "these people are trash", it's probably written to convey "these people are good but we can't use them anymore". Which is a bad thing in itself, "can't use them therefore let's toss them to the side", but is not an attack on their competence.
 
Yuntu

Yuntu

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Nov 7, 2019
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ghostcrew said:
I think this is a misread to be honest. They don't say 'the wrong people' they say they have the best people, but 'the wrong teams'. If you have 45 talented procedural tech artists but your next project doesn't need procedural tech or you have 50 network engineers who make the best multiplayer envirornments but you recently re-scoped and cancelled a load of multiplayer features in your next game then you have 'the wrong teams'. You can't just shift a team of industry leading multiplayer designers onto something else in a single player project for example.

I feel like this PR clearly puts the focus on the team makeup rather than the individuals but feels like everyone had a different reading. Dunno.
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Thats how I read it as well. Better put into words than I could.
 
Tovarisc

Tovarisc

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Oct 25, 2017
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Why I get quoted about "wrong people" bit? :|

I went with it because it was most used and across the board accepted reading of the statement, hence I thought my own read on it was wrong.
 
His Majesty

His Majesty

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Oct 25, 2017
12,199
Belgium
To meet our own high expectations and ambitions to create the best role-playing games, we not only want to have the best people but also the right teams. What we mean by that is having teams that are built around our projects' needs; teams that are more agile and more effective. At this point in time, we're certain that for CD PROJEKT RED to grow, we need to be consistent in implementing that approach. We've carefully assessed all teams in the company in terms of their expected contribution to the delivery of our strategy. There's no easy way to say this, but today we are overstaffed. We have talented people on board who are finishing their tasks and — based on current and expected project needs — we already know we don't have other opportunities for them in the next year.
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unless my reading comprehension needs serious work, all I get from this is that they are overstaffed and have teams suited for specific tasks that are finished and don't need doing anymore
 
artsi

artsi

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Oct 26, 2017
2,711
Finland
345 said:
it doesn't literally call them "wrong people", it says they're overstaffed and don't have the right team structure. the statement is specifically about how it's not to do with individual ability.

sometimes i really wonder about reading comprehension on this site. i get that CDPR haven't warranted the benefit of the doubt, but come on.
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Yeah it reads like every other layoff PR text.

I don't think there's anything interesting or outrageous about the wording. It's the actual layoffs that suck, even delivering the most beautiful words it's still a shitty situation to the people affected.

What matters most is the severance and many months advance notice. It's money and time for those people and more important than hollow words.
 
petetnt

petetnt

Member
Oct 28, 2017
987
You can try to flip it around as you like, but the truth is that for the past 6 months companies have been expected to lay off 10% and not following the market is a bad sign for investors. Capitalism is dumb shit and CDPR will lose top tier talent in addition to the 9% going out otherwise, they, like most companies, think they are prepared for it but never are.
 

AndyVirus

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
2,890
Spesi said:
That's a bit weird since afaik, they have multiple projects going on, right? Sounds like a panic move to please investors.
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Besides the about to be released Phantom Liberty..

Witcher 4-6: Poland
New IP: Poland
Cyberpunk sequel: Boston & Vancouver
Witcher 1 Remake: Outsourced to Fool's Theory
Witcher Multiplayer: The Molasses Flood
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,522
Cool we are back to mass layoffs after completing projects, because the upper management are shit at their job and didn't plan ahead.

Maybe look at them before you let them lead you to your bold new future of being just so agile or whatever.
 
Mathieran

Mathieran

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,935
I'm so fucking sick of layoffs. Fuck the shareholders. I got laid off last year, and I just started at a new place this month and they just announced they are doing a new 10% layoff in the coming months so I'm already under threat again.
 
MatrixMan.exe

MatrixMan.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,506
What about the first paragraph is bizarre? This sucks, and CDPR leadership are clowns for fucking up, but I'm not sure what's 'weird' about this statement.

Sounds like pretty standard corporate PR that gets thrown out when announcing layoffs. Have read several similar emails at my own company several times over the years.

TLDR; it's not that the people getting laid off aren't good people, it's that the studio leadership got ahead of themselves (as they unfortunately do at far too many companies with no consequences), fucked up and hired more people than they actually needed to fulfil the strategy that will inevitably change in the next year or two when things don't go to plan.
 
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anexanhume

anexanhume

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,919
Maryland
Despite all the bad press, CP2077 did wonderfully! Also, you're laid off.

Hope these people find a good a landing spot. There's a ton of prestigious RPG houses I'm sure would love to snap them up.
 
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