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Is All Not Well at CD Projekt Red? (Trend in Glassdoor Reviews)

M

Maligna

Banned
On my never ending hunt for new Cyberpunk 2077 information I just stumbled upon this video made by a guy (who looks like he may be Hideo Kojima in disguise) that has been taking a look at the glassdoor.com reviews of CD Projekt Red. He noticed a troubling trend and laid it all out here in his video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBuoexbVEFE

Some points he brings up from the reviews:
From 30 Reviews
CD Projekt Red has a rating of 3.1 Stars.
46% would recommend a friend to work there
15% approve of the CEO Adam Badowski

As a comparison:
From 778 reviews
Ubisoft has a ranking of 3.8
85% would recommend a friend to work there
98% approve of CEO Yves Guillemot

From 1668 reviews
EA has 3.9 stars
82% would recommend
95% approve of CEO Andrew Wilson

Reviews range from Dec 2012 untill early this year. Some common threads are as follows:
• Middle management is heavily criticized for not being in tune with gamers and not listening/trusting their employees
• Talent is often lost due to pressure, low salary, bullying and bad decisions
• Long working hours, sometimes paid, sometimes not
• Fake milestones to increase pressure
• Bonus system that is biased towards middle management
• Broken and outdated tools
• Studio has grown too large/too fast (Lack of skill/training/experience in new hires)
• Lack of planning/vision (This would lead credence to the rumor that they scrapped all Cyberpunk pre-production work from prior to 2016)
• No investment in employees
• Constant renovations at the office causing chaos
• Work tends to be lost or done in vain
• Employees aren't kept in the loop of the production schedule
• Culture of blame
• Erratic/absent CEO who "doesn't even like games"

A couple choice quotes from "Advice to Management" section that seems to be in line with the consensus,
"Hire somebody with actual management experience to help this company change. Without this, in five years nobody will want to work at CDPRed."
"Crunch here is insane. We read about Bungie's crunch and ME: Andromeda crunch and laugh. And crunch will hit this current project hard."
"Just retire or focus on family. Please leave making games to people who actually play them, make them and love them."
Click to expand...

Yes, glassdoor is kinda like yelp. So there could be some trolls in there, but the reviews seem way too consistent with specific issues over too many years. (2012-2017)

Still, as the thread about CD Projekt's market capitalisation breaking $3 billion revealed, even if all of this is true, it's working for them as a company... but at what cost?

Cyberpunk 2077 is my most anticipated game ever, and I really hope it's not going to be a mess with how fast it seems the company is growing and taking on amateur talent, while at the same time management seems to have disparate and counter-intuitive visions for projects.

EDIT: Link to the reviews in question.
https://www.glassdoor.ca/Reviews/CD...own&sort.ascending=false&countryRedirect=true
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
Akronis said:
Underpaid, overworked. Sounds like a AAA game dev company to me.

Disgusting as fuck.
Click to expand...
Which raises the question - why are EA & Ubisoft's reviews so positive by comparison?

Is CDPR an anomaly, or do other studios bloat the system with planted positive reviews?

What do the stats look like for a studio of a similar size/scale of CDPR?
 
G

gdt

Member
We've heard about this for awhile. The Witcher 3 absolutely murdered the workforce and whats going on with CP2077 seems to be doing the same.

Amazing games though.
 
C

Comrade Crunch

Member
Considering it's based on 30 reviews and anyone can leave a glass door review, I wouldn't put much stock in this yet.

If things are not well, I'd be willing to be our resident Press Sneak Fuck will be filling us all in soon.
 
O

Obliterator

Member
I believe this has been rumored that CD Pojekt Red has some rough conditions to work under. That said its pretty common in AAA game development. Keep in mind I'm not excusing that whatsoever, its horrible, but just saying its all too common. Its pretty rare to work at a major AAA dev studio and not be in somewhat shitty conditions.
 
A

Akronis

Member
Mushroomer25 said:
Which raises the question - why are EA & Ubisoft's reviews so positive by comparison?

Is CDPR an anomaly, or do other studios bloat the system with planted positive reviews?

What do the stats look like for a studio of a similar size/scale of CDPR?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if it's just been so normalized for some companies at this point, no one bats an eye.

Anyone getting into video game development is basically expected by a lot of large companies to put their entire existence into their work.
 
D

didevol

Member
Obliterator said:
Its pretty rare to work at a major AAA dev studio and not be in somewhat shitty conditions.
Click to expand...

Nah, it's not really like that. There are crunch times, sometimes serious. It's not unheard of to pull 80 hour weeks(I think it's fun though). Companies usually cater to us during those times to make life easier. I've never had a bad experience and don't recall people complaining on the regular.

Maybe different fields of work get treated differently.
 
L

Lingitiz

Member
Mushroomer25 said:
Which raises the question - why are EA & Ubisoft's reviews so positive by comparison?

Is CDPR an anomaly, or do other studios bloat the system with planted positive reviews?

What do the stats look like for a studio of a similar size/scale of CDPR?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the horror stories with those two publishers, but generally with their scale they'd be able to offer good benefits and other pros that would make working there more pleasant. EA and Ubi are freaking massive, but it also means they'd have the infrastructure and internal support to maintain that size. As "evil" as their corporate culture might seem on the outside, I'm willing to bet they probably treat their employees pretty well generally.

Also, EA/Ubi have a lot more employees that work on the publishing side, where hours can still be rough but nowhere near as grueling as software development.
 
M

mrlion

Member
I looked at the reviews myself....and yeah....take them with a grain of salt. Not saying the company can't make compromises but they are a great dev for a reason, having one of the greatest games of our lifetimes they must be doing something right.

To be fair, however, I've been to Poland that was included in a tour I made myself of Eastern Europe and I can tell you Poland (specifically Warsaw) is and feels way different from the rest of them. They have attitude similar to New York City and they tend to be very proud of what they do, sometimes a little too much but they get the job done and they get it done very well. I know this because my brother also worked in Warsaw and he saw similar effects him living there for a year and I noticed even from the few days I was there.

So if the reviews come from people who are from other countries working with them, it makes sense they felt that there was something missing. However, they don't do it maliciously, its just that they are proud people that is all.
 
C

carlsojo

Member
30 reviews is a super low sample size but that's still concerning.

Re: Ubi and EA, maybe they just treat their employees really well?
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
didevol said:
Nah, it's not really like that. There are crunch times, sometimes serious. It's not unheard of to pull 80 hour weeks(I think it's fun though). Companies usually cater during those times to make life easier.

Maybe different fields of work get treated differently.
Click to expand...
They do. That's why a lot of gaming people flee into other areas of the tech industry. Gaming has the worse of both the tech and entertainment industry
 
D

didevol

Member
HK-47 said:
They do. That's why a lot of gaming people flee into other areas of the tech industry. Gaming has the worse of both the tech and entertainment industry
Click to expand...

I think you have them confused. Games is WAY more stable than the film industry, in my experience anyway, and again, prolly different for what you do in the industry.
 
AmuroChan

AmuroChan

Member
Comrade Crunch said:
Considering it's based on 30 reviews and anyone can leave a glass door review, I wouldn't put much stock in this yet.

If things are not well, I'd be willing to be our resident Press Sneak Fuck will be filling us all in soon.
Click to expand...

Wait seriously? So even if you've never worked there you could leave a review? Lol what's the point of the site then? Someone who left on bad terms could just leave a bunch of bad reviews with fake accounts.
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
didevol said:
I think you have them confused. Games is WAY more stable than the film industry, in my experience anyway, and again, prolly different for what you do in the industry.
Click to expand...
Being more stable than film is like being more stable than a star that's about to go supernova.
 
W

Wolf Akela

Member
jacks81x said:
Wait seriously? So even if you've never worked there you could leave a review? Lol what's the point of the site then? Someone who left on bad terms could just leave a bunch of bad reviews with fake accounts.
Click to expand...

There's really no way to verify you worked for the company without maintaining anonymity.
 
H

Hierophant

Banned
HK-47 said:
Being more stable than film is like being more stable than a star that's about to go supernova.
Click to expand...

OT but what does make film super unstable? i thought game studios regularly lay off employees after they're done with the game or is this a different situation? sorry, genuinely curious
 
S

Syriel

Member
Mushroomer25 said:
Which raises the question - why are EA & Ubisoft's reviews so positive by comparison?

Is CDPR an anomaly, or do other studios bloat the system with planted positive reviews?

What do the stats look like for a studio of a similar size/scale of CDPR?
Click to expand...

Better project bonuses perhaps?

People will put up with crunch if they feel well compensated and that management is solid.
 
S

Some Nobody

Junior Member
We saw rumors exactly like this right before TW3 came out actually. I won't say they're false, I'll say more likely CDPR knows how to make good games regardless of what's going on behind the scenes.
 
TissueBox

TissueBox

Member
How can a studio that's so beloved by consumers have so mixed reviews from employees?
Click to expand...

Probably because these two are verily not mutually exclusive, like with a lot of art that is beloved, unfortunately.

Of course, that also means they can overlap, too. Just clearly depend on different factors.

Beware the assumption that because a game comes out great and is universally loved that the creators were all on the same page and not being put through a laborious or strict/disjointed game development ringer.
 
L

Landford

Banned
There was a post about an "insider" that was telling the exact same thing years ago. It kinda got dismissed i guess, but he painted this exact same scenario, especially the management part. So its either one very diligent angry person or the pattern is on the wall.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
Landford said:
There was a post about an "insider" that was telling the exact same thing years ago. It kinda got dismissed i guess, but he painted this exact same scenario, especially the management part. So its either one very diligent angry person or the pattern is on the wall.
Click to expand...

There was. It came out shortly before Witcher 3 came out though that insider also said Witcher 3 was very bad as well which probably made people doubt the working conditions part when it came out to overwhelmingly positive reception
 
D

Dabanton

Member
Mushroomer25 said:
Which raises the question - why are EA & Ubisoft's reviews so positive by comparison?

Is CDPR an anomaly, or do other studios bloat the system with planted positive reviews?

What do the stats look like for a studio of a similar size/scale of CDPR?
Click to expand...

I have friends at EA Canada who love working there.

Glassdoor for the most part is usually pretty straightforward. I've searched my own company to read reviews and most of it is fairly spot on.
 
M

Maligna

Banned
jacks81x said:
I totally get that, but that basically makes the site useless. A company could have 100 reviews and 50 of them came from one guy who got fired.
Click to expand...

But would he have the patience to post the same review consistently over the course of 5 years?
 
V

veloxStrix

Banned
Isn't it pretty obvious what is happening here?
From 30 Reviews
CD Projekt Red has a rating of 3.1 Stars.
46% would recommend a friend to work there
15% approve of the CEO Adam Badowski

As a comparison:
From 778 reviews
Ubisoft has a ranking of 3.8
85% would recommend a friend to work there
98% approve of CEO Yves Guillemot

From 1668 reviews
EA has 3.9 stars
82% would recommend
95% approve of CEO Andrew Wilson
Click to expand...

Let's take a look at these numbers. First, the sheer number of reviews. 30 reviews vs 778 and 1668. That is a huge difference. EA and Ubisoft are both larger companies with a longer life, but it is still a massive disparity between CDPR. By having more reviews, you are always going to trend towards a more neutral number. Since most people tend to use rating numbers somewhat arbitrarily despite their actual feelings, this number tends towards positivity despite what the actual posts might be saying.

Second, EA and Ubisoft are probably well aware of the value of marketing and most likely have some incentive to leaving a Glassdoor review - whether it is positive or negative. As most reviews of this sort are done by people having an issue and being inclined to take some action to deal with that issue, giving an incentive to employees to write reviews typically encourages those people with few issues to write a review they generally would never make - further raising the average. A more cynical person might suggest that they could hire a marketing person to artificially inflate their Glassdoor score. It isn't impossible but I think they would be fine even without it.

Nothing to see here. Just bad analysis, in my opinion. Every company has disgruntled employees, no matter what. Some people just don't fit in.
 
A

arturo2666

Banned
OP might be worth posting a link to the actual reviews in the topic.
Here.

As for the reviews,this is a pretty weird case. Disregarding the difference in sample size with the companies it's compared to, I find it really strange how the reviews seem to be really positive or really negative with no middle ground. I don't work in the industry, but for companies in my vertical reviews usually range 2-4.5, whereas on the first page of CD Projekt Red I'm seeing mostly 1s and 5s.

Not sure what to conclude from that, mostly just a stray observation.
 
BizzyBum

BizzyBum

Member
• Studio has grown too large/too fast (Lack of skill/training/experience in new hires)
Click to expand...

This is what I was afraid of. Sometimes more people isn't always the best way to go about things. Sure, things get done quicker, but the end product is worse.

I still have faith Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be mind blowing.
 
U

UnemployedVillain

Member
Mushroomer25 said:
Which raises the question - why are EA & Ubisoft's reviews so positive by comparison?

Is CDPR an anomaly, or do other studios bloat the system with planted positive reviews?

What do the stats look like for a studio of a similar size/scale of CDPR?
Click to expand...

Ubisoft seems to mitigate the problem to some degree by just having massive team sizes. They seem to easily have the largest dev team sizes for their major games

jacks81x said:
I totally get that, but that basically makes the site useless. A company could have 100 reviews and 50 of them came from one guy who got fired.
Click to expand...

LOL so "basically useless" on the off chance some troll is review bombing a company. Okay
 
L

Landford

Banned
Data West said:
There was. It came out shortly before Witcher 3 came out though that insider also said Witcher 3 was very bad as well which probably made people doubt the working conditions part when it came out to overwhelmingly positive reception
Click to expand...

Did the guy really said that? I remember he posted at the time the game got a huge delay, and that he left, and his colleagues were doing ungodly amounts of crunch. That would line up with the rumoured troubles with 2077. I also could be misremembering, apologies if so.
 
P

psyfi

Banned
Maligna said:
Still, as the thread about CD Projekt's market capitalisation breaking $3 billion revealed, even if all of this is true, it's working for them as a company... but at what cost?
Click to expand...
Wait, so... the company is working for who exactly? How is it working out for all the workers who quit and complain, and all the workers who want to quit but are too desperate or too dedicated? How is it working out for them?

That's the gross anti-social mindset capitalism has sold to us.
 
M

Maligna

Banned
psyfi said:
Wait, so... the company is working for who exactly? How is it working out for all the workers who quit and complain, and all the workers who want to quit but are too desperate or too dedicated? How is it working out for them?

That's the gross anti-social mindset capitalism has sold to us.
Click to expand...

True, I guess I should have said it's working well for the CEOs and management.

Random Human said:
I think it's much more likely a studio making huge AAA games has a bad work-life balance than a bitter ex-employee made a bot to review bomb Glassdoor.

People really don't want to believe many AAA games are built on the backs of workers, huh.
Click to expand...
NintendosBooger said:
Corporate apologists in this thread are disgusting.

"It's pretty common AAA stuff, guys, move along...but remember to support them so they keep making games I like."
Click to expand...

Yeah, I expected plenty of apologists. Made me wonder if I should bother making the topic.
 
V

veloxStrix

Banned
psyfi said:
Wait, so... the company is working for who exactly? How is it working out for all the workers who quit and complain, and all the workers who want to quit but are too desperate or too dedicated? How is it working out for them?

That's the gross anti-social mindset capitalism has sold to us.
Click to expand...

Find me this magical company to works out for everyone who has ever worked there. This website has 30 reviews about a company with ~600 employees most of whom live in Poland and have likely never heard of Glassdoor. Is this an accurate representation of the overall workforce? I think most people with common sense would say "no".
 
N

NintendosBooger

Member
Corporate apologists in this thread are disgusting.

"It's pretty common AAA stuff, guys, move along...but remember to support them so they keep making games I like."
 
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