Really interesting interview from Jason that also touches on things like unionisation, I'd recommend giving it a listen. Also the private gameplay demo that's been shown to the press behind closed doors at E3 will finally be uploaded to their YouTube channel at the end of PAX West in August.
J: If I'm a designer at CD Projekt Red and I say you know what I have kids, I have a family, I'm going to work from 10am to 6pm every day, and that's it. Even until the very end. Am I going to be okay with that?
I: Yes. Yes.
J: No matter what.
I: Yes.
J: So you can commit to that?
I: We've committed to that already.
J: That's good to hear, because oftentimes it feels like there's these social pressures and subtle pressures—
I: We can never be 200% sure that there won't be some pressure, but it's actually our management's work to make sure people are OK with that, and I think I'd like people to tell other people within the company that that's OK, because that's when we are successful when introducing it. But so far so good.
J: I was actually glad to see that you guys announced the game for April 2020, because I had heard from some people, 'Oh, we're going for 2019, it's unrealistic, what are we going to have to do to ourselves?' Is that one of the reasons you guys delayed it?
I: (laughs) You're digging way too deep, Jason.
J: (laughs) That's my job.
I: The production plans are discussed with people, and of course we had to set a certain date, because as you know, we could develop every single game we've been developing endlessly because there's always something you can tweak, make it better. So a set date is important. But it is lots of planning and we take into account a lot of variables, first and foremost the production capabilities, the time we think is needed, the stage at which we are, but also the market environment. We are trying to hit a certain good window. And I think it's a good window. And it aligns with our production plans.
J: Is it fair to say that you guys wanted to hit that target to make sure people didn't have to kill themselves to make this?
I: (laughs) It's a direct result of our production planning and we're trying to make it realistic, and not make it a ginormous burden on the team. Why we've been making this public commitment is because we really care about the people that are making this game. It's not me coding personally or painting something, it's the super-talented folks that decided to join us, and I want to make sure they feel taken care of and respected.
J: I was watching the Cyberpunk demo and you were exploring this sort of Haitian culture and I've seen a lot of mixed opinion. Some people were like "This gang of people were stereotypical!" while some people who were Haitian on Twitter were like "Oh, yeah! We're being represented!". Did you guys have Haitian writers or...?
I: We're actually consulting with a Haitian NGO about this and we're very sensitive to these things.
I: Every single time we try to be as professional as we can. There is 25% of foreigners (not native to Poland) on this team and we have people from different races and cultures so we cannot know everything, so we always check and here in this case we have a Haitian NGO involved.
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