CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14) • Hacker News Board

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#211

Post by munk-a » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:12 AM UTC

908B64B197 wrote: post #203

munk-a wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CDPR sounds like a relatively progressively run game company tbh. A lot of game dev companies deny you overtime during the run up to a major release and massively layoff staff after releases. Up here in British Columbia all technical workers[1] are overtime exempt because EA ran roughshod over our labour laws a number of years ago and people are too afraid to change them for fear of driving off businesses. 1. Vaguely…

Never understood why they tried so hard to be the destination for offshoring instead of fostering home grown studios. That and pitching Vancouver as an ideal HQ2 location since tech workers are worth ~50K less than in America[0]. Is this something that Canadians approve? [0] https://www.vancouvereconomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02...

Nope, and most software developers in Vancouver aren't participating with foreign companies at those rates. The laws remain how they are mostly to disenfranchise QA testers which remain a very hard labour segment to mobilize. There are thousands of "I can make money playing games?!?" folks out there that drown out the really good QA folks and insure that EA can maintain its churn.

For regular dev jobs, I think the market is less imbalanced than it appears on the surface. Cost of living isn't cheap in BC but free medical care is a big bonus and the city is quite pleasant. Senior devs will end up pulling senior dev money - it's mostly the entry level wages that are depressed.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#212

Post by CivBase » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:14 AM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #194

pavlov wrote: post #7

This company has probably the shittiest gamified bonus system that I've ever heard of: "CDPR leaders would hand out tokens every month to staffers who went above and beyond, and those tokens were supposed to be transferrable into bonuses if the game met “certain criteria, like critical acclaim and a timely release,” according to the report." [1] Get paid in "crunch mode experience points" handed out by middle manager…

CDPR sounds like a relatively progressively run game company tbh. A lot of game dev companies deny you overtime during the run up to a major release and massively layoff staff after releases. Up here in British Columbia all technical workers[1] are overtime exempt because EA ran roughshod over our labour laws a number of years ago and people are too afraid to change them for fear of driving off businesses. 1. Vaguely…

It's sad if that counts as "progressive" business practices in the games industry.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#213

Post by User23 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:14 AM UTC

ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #62

pavon wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They overestimated how much they could fix in the time between the initial delivery and the day-one patch.

Yeah it reads to me more like they were pressured to release it quickly before the holidays by investors, and the decision makers didn't listen to those below saying that it just couldn't be done (to the quality everyone expected). I've been playing it on both PS4 Pro and PC and haven't experienced any game-breaking issues, and I was as hyped about this game as anyone (huge fan of the original RPG and CDPR in general…

Or just marketed it as early access.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#214

Post by jimbob45 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:16 AM UTC

verst wrote: post #120

29athrowaway wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be employee #2 of a startup, receive a lot of stock early on and then see it dillute to fractions of a cent. Perfectly legal.

Unsure why you are being downvoted. Perhaps some founders and investors don't want this to be known...

I guess no one paid attention during The Social Network because they spelled it out clearly in that movie.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#215

Post by mciancia » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:16 AM UTC

elorant wrote: post #143

dotdi wrote: post #9

I see CDPR being bashed a lot and I wanted to chip in: I bought the game on release day on GOG and am playing it on a Macbook Pro via Geforce Now. It's running very well for me. I've had 0 crashes. Very few glitches, and if, then they were cosmetic i.e. didn't cause any gameplay problems†. The visuals are absolutely amazing. Combat is very nice. The skill tree is interesting. Night city is beautifully immersive and t…

Combat absolutely sucks, and it's the one thing I loathe about the game. You have to empty two magazine clips in any given opponent to take him down. I've never seen a game with such weak weaponry. It feels unrealistic.

Seems similar to borderlands

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#216

Post by sfkdjf9j3j » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:20 AM UTC

michaelt wrote: post #204

vsareto wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No reason to not give the bonuses when accomplishments are recognized then, instead of tying it to the team's success at a singular date (delivery). It forces everyone to work in overdrive. It's plainly not a personal contribution/performance bonus at all. If CDPR makes a bad hire that causes a delay (even outside of development, like marketing?), then everyone suffers for that from a lack of a bonus. This is particu…

Plenty of companies recognise contributions by handing out tokens that can't be cashed in immediately, that have a value that depends on the fortunes of the company, and that might fall in value precipitously. Just usually they name the tokens "stock options" or "pre-IPO shares" I agree there are plenty of shitty practices in the games industry, of course.

It would also be weird if managers were to capriciously hand out options to employees as short term performance bonuses.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#217

Post by CivBase » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:23 AM UTC

TheGuyWhoCodes wrote: post #42

Having played cyberpunk on PC it's mostly a fancy light show and not a lot of substance. You can't even customize anything past the creation screen, no car paint jobs no hair cuts and no body modification, no transmog system.. They tried to hide the console issues while reaffirming time and time again that current-gen console will be a first class citizen, that's an EA tactic not something that CDPR I thought I knew…

> that's an EA tactic not something that CDPR I thought I knew would do...

EA gets a lot of well-deserved criticism, but it's important to recognize their behavior is typical of all major players in the games industry. The whole thing is rotten and you shouldn't trust any of them. They certainly haven't earned it. Always wait for reviews.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#218

Post by ineedasername » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:23 AM UTC

lock-free wrote: post #121

dotdi wrote: post #9

I see CDPR being bashed a lot and I wanted to chip in: I bought the game on release day on GOG and am playing it on a Macbook Pro via Geforce Now. It's running very well for me. I've had 0 crashes. Very few glitches, and if, then they were cosmetic i.e. didn't cause any gameplay problems†. The visuals are absolutely amazing. Combat is very nice. The skill tree is interesting. Night city is beautifully immersive and t…

I'm playing on a Ryzen 3800x, a GTX 2060 Super with 32GB of 3600 MHz Ram. I think the game looks bad (with playable settings) and hasn't been compelling enough for me to sink that much time into it, while the missions are pretty grindy. I'd say play GTA V and the Witcher 3 for a comparison in immersive open world story telling and high caliber graphics. I haven't played Spiderman (2018, 2020) but in gameplay footage…

I disagree on the gameplay/grindy part, but yeah the game isn't pretty. I've heard it justified as deliberate: It's a futuristic dystopian city overrun by constant advertising, corporatism, and crime. That doesn't make for a pretty environment. Of course if that was a deliberate artistic decision then maybe they should have gone a different way.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#219

Post by miloignis » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:24 AM UTC

uncomputation wrote: post #163

Why is everyone just talking about last-gen consoles? My partner has been playing on the PS5 and it still crashes at least every hour. Sure, not every 10 min but nothing to gloss over either. This doesn’t even mention the texture glitches, clipping, unachievable quest glitches, animation bugs, etc

The next gen version isn't out yet, the PS5 is playing the PS4 version, so their complaints and yours are indeed for the same version.

Re: CD Projekt Conference Call with the Management Board [pdf] (Dec 14)

#220

Post by mgarym » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 1:26 AM UTC

I've had the misfortune of interacting with some of the engineers at CD Projekt Red in the course of my job in the past. There is a serious competence issue. It's not surprising in the slightest bit that they have this many problems with their release. On top of that, those engineers were arrogant AF when I talked to them.