Mass Layoffs at Cyberpunk 2077 Developer CD Projekt Prompt New Union Formation
A new Polish game developer union has formed following three rounds of layoffs at The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt.
Polish Gamedev Workers Union was founded by current CD Projekt staff, gameplay QA analyst Paweł Myszka and gameplay programmer Lev Ki, aiming to represent all those working in game development in Poland.
They said they started talking about unionising after the 2023 wave of layoffs that saw nine percent of CD Projekt Red staff (roughly 100 people) let go.
“This event created a tremendous amount of stress and insecurity, affecting our mental health and leading to the creation of this union in response,” Polish Gamedev Workers Union said. “Having a union means having more security, transparency, better protection, and a stronger voice in times of crisis.
“The above shows how employers tend to view their interests to be in conflict with those of their employees. While employees are the ones creating value in this arrangement, they lack any decision power in company-structure-related matters. That is why we need to organise to enter those situations on equal footing.
“We believe that the mass lay-offs are a danger to the gamedev industry and we believe that unionising is a way for us to preserve the industry’s potential.”
IGN has asked CD Projekt for comment.
The layoffs in question occurred in July. At the time, management called the redundancies an “alignment of the scale and size of the team with the requirements of ongoing projects and the CD Projekt Group strategy”.
The layoffs affected those in development, publishing, and back-office teams, and were expected to conclude in the first quarter of 2024.
“The decision is related to the continuing transformation as part of which the CD Projekt Red
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