There are 2 sources: one is telling that there is crunch, the other is saying that this isn't a case. First source is Jason Schreier's tweet in which he intentionally missrepresents polish labour law, even after mentioning it. He also quotes lead producer's apology letter but then he misrepresent its content to support his claims. Multiple articles talking about CP2077 crunch are just quoting parts of Schreier's tweets without any investigation on their own.
This is factually incorrect, there's no other way I can put it. There are more than two sources that do not all trace back to the two sources you claim they do.
This article (
https://kotaku.com/report-cyberpunk-2077-developers-will-be-crunching-de-1845220746) sources a Bloomberg article (this one:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...6-day-weeks-ahead-of-game-debut?sref=P6Q0mxvj) which does not mention Schreier's tweet at any point, but it does in fact have its own investigation. Everything in that previous sentence directly contradicts what you've said, which given that you've not provided any solid links to sources... I'm sure I don't have to describe how that looks.
The other source is Gameinformer's stream in which one of GI's journalist were talking about her interactions with developers. According to her many people were taking overtime before "catch up" but it was all valuntary.
So two things here. First, can I have a source? I'm genuinely interested. Something like a timestamp too would be very helpful. Secondly, the issue of "voluntary" work and the nature in which it may or may not seem voluntary is a big talking point in the wider games industry. The Polish Laws certainly do seem to give developers some protection and the situation at CDPR is better than most, but that doesn't make it good. It just means its less bad. If you want my full argument on the "voluntary" or not argument, the best source that explains it concisely that I can think of is this:
If you want to do some reading the gamedaily.biz article mentioned at the timestamp in that link is here:
https://gamedaily.biz/article/1029/...velopers-say-crunch-is-expected-at-their-jobs
That articles source is here:
https://www.takethis.org/programs/industry-research/state-of-the-industry-white-paper/
According to her research many developers (mostly those more active on social media) were upset about Schreier's piece because they got accused of defending crunch when they just wanted to celebrate CP2077 going gold.
I don't have a source so I can't disprove this, but that's because I have nothing to disprove other than what you're saying. What does "going gold" mean? That one has completely gone over my head, I've no idea what that means.
Also my doubt of situation painted in articles about crunch is based on polish law and current situation in polish economy. There is limit of overtime hours employees can take voluntary in Poland and employer cannot demand more from the employee. There are however many people that put overtime regularly, as it is paid twice here. Mandatory 48 hour work week described as "horrible crunch" is norm in Poland now as situation in workplaces is unstable with goverment changing covid regulations almost every month.
Full disclaimer, I'm not too familiar with this situation. I'd hazard a guess that if the laws surrounding the situation are wording similarly to yours then the use of the word "demand" is being exploited and disguised as "voluntary". This is a guess for this specific situation though, but it's based on the general industry.
However, the protections in Poland seem better than most other places, although that is likely to be compromised by the fluid and ongoing COVID situation, which can also be said for everywhere else.
In conclusion: there are 2 sources, one intentionally misrepresents events and regulations he uses as evidence to its claims, while the author has both good media investigations and manipulative articles intentionally misrepresenting facts (most of them were used to push his idea of unions as solution to industry problems) in his portfolio.
Please source this. You're presenting it as if it is obvious and fact, but you have no sources. You're also stating your view of someone else's motivations as if it is fact, which even sourced has to be taken with a bucket of salt. I will say that unions being pushed is common in games journalists who don't just review stuff, as well as former employees. The responsibility on this I suppose is with the reader, to separate sources and their validity from the opinions of the reporter which presents those sources. Maybe there's a reason for that? I guess we'll never know.
'Every game you like is built on the backs of workers'
time.com
I am not familiar with Gameinformer's journalist that talked about this situation, however situation she described was way more likely to happen based on both polish laws and opinions about current working conditions at CDPR according to word by mouth among developers in Poland.
So first off, this isn't sourced again so I can only say very limited things about this, whether positive or negative. I'll accept that a lot of the time situations that some may call "crunch", others may call "voluntary". However, that doesn't make the situation good or not. The fact that such polarising words are used doesn't paint a clear picture either way, assuming all else is equal. Given the fact that social media blackouts for employees has happened at development studios before, I personally can't trust only social media sources or the lack thereof on something. In addition to other sources, sure, but not alone. This all comes back to the "voluntary" argument though, as well as the fact that CDPR are better than most "AAA" developers in regard to working conditions.
On its own, the bit about the Game Informer journalist doesn't seem to actually say much to me. It reads as a framing device to demonise Jason Schreier. I'd personally prefer something where you don't have to frame something much to be demonised because it's objectively bad, as opposed to possibly the most biased description of a reporter I've had the pleasure of reading in the past few months.
Please don't just reply telling me I'm clearly wrong. If you give me sources, I will read them. So please, if you're going to claim something then source it, because I will concede if I read your source and it makes me reconsider. I can't reconsider something when there is nothing that will make me reconsider.
In RD downlaod section 
