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Jason/Bloomberg: Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, director of The Witcher 3, has left CD Projekt following allegations of workplace bullying,

Uzupedro

Uzupedro

Banned
May 16, 2020
12,234
Rio de Janeiro
The director of the Witcher 3, the most successful video game for Polish publisher CD Projekt SA, resigned after facing workplace bullying allegations, which he denies.

The company had been conducting a months-long investigation into accusations of mobbing, a Polish term for office bullying, against the game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, according to an email to CD Projekt staff reviewed by Bloomberg. In the message, Tomaszkiewicz wrote that a commission had been formed to look into these allegations and had found him not guilty.

"Nonetheless, a lot of people are feeling fear, stress or discomfort when working with me," he wrote. He apologized to staff "for all the bad blood I have caused."
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Tomaszkiewicz was expected to play a significant role in the company's next game in the Witcher series. When reached for comment, Tomaszkiewicz confirmed his departure and said he was "sad, a bit disappointed and resigned." A representative for CD Projket declined to comment.

In the email to employees, Tomaszkiewicz said the decision was agreed upon with the company's board. "I am going to continue working on myself," he wrote. "Changing behavior is a long and arduous process, but I'm not giving up, and I hope to change."
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Helix

Helix

Mayor of Clown Town
Member
Jun 8, 2019
23,796
yeah this is just getting worse for them. this fall from grace is nothing short of trainwreck.
 
RK9

RK9

Member
Apr 5, 2021
306
Oh I'm sure he never bullied people into crunching or working overtime. /s
 
JoJo'sDentCo

JoJo'sDentCo

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,538
I am happy for the people that worked under him. I would have loved for some of the assholes that I have worked with in the past to quit.
 
Jarmel

Jarmel

The Jackrabbit Always Wins
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,338
New York
Sounds pretty serious for there to be an actual commission to look into the charges. I would have more faith in the results/judgement if they were done by an independent party.
 
Menx64

Menx64

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,774
Helix said:
yeah this is just getting worse for them. this fall from grace is nothing short of trainwreck.
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Fall from grace? Wait until the next Witcher is out, they game will be huge for sure. Gamerzzz dont care about controversies unless is devs adding POC or "forced" diversity.
 
vixolus

vixolus

Prophet of Truth
Member
Sep 22, 2020
54,527
Theorry said:
Poor choice of thumbnail.

What a mess lately at CDPR
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R94ab4d806084a1ef58d2ec2a6cf8826e
 

Raigor

Member
May 14, 2020
15,146
Helix said:
yeah this is just getting worse for them. this fall from grace is nothing short of trainwreck.
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"fall from grace".

Ye sure, just wait until the reveal The Witcher 4 and everything is back to normal. There's no such as "fall from grace" in the gaming industry, people forgive and forgot so quickly.
 
Rover_

Rover_

Member
Jun 2, 2020
5,189
not guilty, but "I am going to continue working on myself," he wrote. "Changing behavior is a long and arduous process, but I'm not giving up, and I hope to change."

yeah, so long.
 
Uhyve

Uhyve

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,167
Rover_ said:
not guilty, but "I am going to continue working on myself," he wrote. "Changing behavior is a long and arduous process, but I'm not giving up, and I hope to change."

yeah, so long.
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Yeah, that's the bit that jumped out at me. Pretty much admitting it.

But good on CD Projekt for investigating themselves and finding they'd done nothing wrong.
 
Kalor

Kalor

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,629
Found not guilty by the company but then they claim that they're working to improve their behaviour. So there was clearly something there regardless of the ruling.
 
MinerArcaniner

MinerArcaniner

Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,258
Raigor said:
"fall from grace".

Ye sure, just wait until the reveal The Witcher 4 and everything is back to normal. There's no such as "fall from grace" in the gaming industry, people forgive and forgot so quickly.
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This will be the real test.

If the next big game they announce gets no more than a shrug, even if it looks good, then we'll know that people are truly done with them. But I suspect a lot of the antipathy is just the usual gamer outrage posturing.
 

Deleted member 24907

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
5,354
SunBroDave said:
Witcher 3 was a fluke
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The game is great and was universally acclaimed, but as we know all too well at this point, a toxic workplace doesn't necessarily mean the game will come out poor. And in many cases actually the exact opposite, the miserable crunch and working conditions are the reason why some games end up as good as they are. It vindicates a lot of terrible management practices and makes them feel like they can mismanage shit as much as they want because hey, it worked before!

In many ways I would say Cyberpunk's fracas would not have come without the hubris of CDPR's upper management, in no small part due to the Witcher 3's success.
 
mael

mael

Avenger
Nov 3, 2017
16,812
So he's gone, gone or are they pulling a Ubisoft and he's a contractor from now on?
 
Garrison

Garrison

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,897
Kyrios said:
Sounds like friggen hell working at that dev.
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From what I've read about everything going on It looks to me like they should of focused on one Platform instead of all the ones they did. It was way too much for them. Stressful situations bring out the worst in some people, not saying that I approve of any wrong doing. It was probably best for them to just do the PC version last year and keep cooking the console versions until ready to come out this year. In hindsight we really don't have nothing going on right now so the space would of been cleared for them for a better launch now than when they did.

Good thing that this dude at least is committing to changing himself. As that is the best to hope for along with a good outcome for those involved.
 
Bizzquik

Bizzquik

Chicken Chaser
Member
Nov 5, 2017
1,506
When Keanu stepped onto the stage at E3, I felt like one of my favorite developers was taking a bow - that CD Projekt had truly grown from their terrible choice of female trading cards in Witcher 1 to maturity in Witcher 3, and we were seeing a wonderful IP in Cyberpunk about to launch as the culmination of their success story.

I could not have been more wrong.
 

Deleted member 13101

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
17,973
Yay, another appearance of a word that has lost all meaning: "embattled".

Despite the twitter headline, the article is fine and informative. If the bullying is tied to job performance expectations in any way...
 
SunBroDave

SunBroDave

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,159
AshenOne said:
Nice drive-by.
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...no? Everything that has come out about CDPR since the release of Witcher 3 has shown that they got very lucky with that game. Despite how it might have seemed at the time that that game released, stories like this prove that they did/do not have the experience/practices/processes/talent at that studio to consistently deliver games of that caliber.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,659
Garrison said:
From what I've read about everything going on It looks to me like they should of focused on one Platform instead of all the ones they did. It was way too much for them. Stressful situations bring out the worst in some people, not saying that I approve of any wrong doing. It was probably best for them to just do the PC version last year and keep cooking the console versions until ready to come out this year. In hindsight we really don't have nothing going on right now so the space would of been cleared for them for a better launch now than when they did.

Good thing that this dude at least is committing to changing himself. As that is the best to hope for along with a good outcome for those involved.
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Yeah hopefully things start improving, but it definitely seems like the stink goes deep into this company.
 
Igniz12

Igniz12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,441
Bizzquik said:
When Keanu stepped onto the stage at E3, I felt like one of my favorite developers was taking a bow - that CD Projekt had truly grown from their terrible choice of female trading cards in Witcher 1 to maturity in Witcher 3, and we were seeing a wonderful IP in Cyberpunk about to launch as the culmination of their success story.

I could not have been more wrong.
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I know exactly what you mean lmao. They were just smart enough to curb their shitty behavior long enough to reap all the goodwill from the W3 but as soon as the success got to their heads their old habits came back with a vengeance.

If anything this just shows how much of a miracle W3 truly was. If they had any sort of good sense of foresight and a huge dose of self reflection they would have seen this themselves and made the changes necessary internally to continue to making more game like the W3 and not fall back into their bad ways again. But that was never gonna happen when the rot starts from the top.
 
Sagroth

Sagroth

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,839
This indicates to me at least that there was definitely some questionable/abusive behavior, but nothing that quite rose to their own internal "guilty" metric (which admittedly they also could have ignored/adjusted to save face).

In any event, it's hard for me to recall a gaming company pissing away goodwill as fast as CDPR. I guess we'll see how other fans feel once they announce their next game, though.
 
Soap

Soap

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,191
An internal investigation of one of their most prominent employees on their best selling franchise found him not guilty? Gee, I wonder if this was impartial.
 
Gestault

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,371
Disclaimer: I'm saying this *generally* and totally *in theory*, and I have zero awareness about the actual situation here;

For people curious about "not guilty" in the context of internal investigations like this, they tend to seek whether an accusation can be substantiated in material terms. For some circumstances or events, that's impossible for practical reasons, even for a totally credible accusation. "Not guilty" can easily be a misnomer in cases like this.
 
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Loanshark

Loanshark

Member
Nov 8, 2017
1,637
I really hope they can turn it around. I always had a nagging feeling that the success of the Witcher 3 + expansions would invite a lot of arrogance. Hopefully they can course correct on multiple fronts. Glad that Jason is shining a light on these matters.
 

Raigor

Member
May 14, 2020
15,146
SunBroDave said:
...no? Everything that has come out about CDPR since the release of Witcher 3 has shown that they got very lucky with that game. Despite how it might have seemed at the time that that game released, stories like this prove that they did/do not have the experience/practices/processes/talent at that studio to consistently deliver games of that caliber.
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Do you seriously think "luck" was the main reason TW3 scored 93, sold over 30 million units and won several awards? All thanks to LUCK?
 
Falchion

Falchion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
40,963
Boise
CDPR has had a horrible year in terms of public perception even though Cyberpunk did well commercially.
 
Son of Sparda

Son of Sparda

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,619
CDPR had this reality check coming and hopefully they can turn things around eventually, but one of the most annoying things following the whole CP2077 disaster, is the notion that they never had any talent and it was all a fluke.

The Witcher series was/is amazing.
 
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