4 ms·

While I do have immense sympathy for the devs, it does bother me that none of them blew the whistle. Many, if not most, should've known that this game was nothi

by mercer 6y ago

While I do have immense sympathy for the devs, it does bother me that none of them blew the whistle. Many, if not most, should've known that this game was nothing like what was promised, and practically unplayable on PS4 or XBONE. Yet they said nothing.

thomasedwards 6y ago
And possibly lose their job during a massive pandemic? It’s hard to be a whistleblower.
- tantalor 6y ago
  Retaliation against whistleblowers is illegal.
  - p0nce 6y ago
    Typical developer is not allowed by contract to say anything related to the product externally. They are just respecting a contract they signed.
    - meibo 6y ago
      That's basically all of the game industry - from testers to PR to HR to art. When I onboarded at a global AAA game dev place in Japan, I got a separate sheet detailing my rights as a whistleblower - it's lucky to have these, but I doubt anyone would risk their standing/future in the industry because of something like this, especially during a pandemic.
  - oneeyedpigeon 6y ago
    Not in Poland.
    - cambalache 6y ago
      Are you actually Polish? Or are you just assuming because it is not America they dont "enjoy" America Freedom(C)?
      - oneeyedpigeon 6y ago
        European. I researched whether or not Poland has legal protection for whistleblowers and it turns out they don't.
        cambalache 6y ago
        I hardly doubt that many legislations will go out of their way to specifically protect whistleblowers, but what do I know about laws?
      - frenchy 6y ago
        I'm not sure if this is being sarcastic or not. Doesn't America have some of the weakest employee protection in the developed world (because, ironically, freedom)?
  - chrismeller 6y ago
    Sure, in theory. In practice they would have let you go for performance reasons, which are only supported by this game being pulled from the store. Of course you can fight it, but while you do you still have to pay your bills and pay a lawyer, all with no income and no guarantee that it will ever make a difference, let alone when it would be resolved. EDIT: And all that presumed that the whistleblower protections would actually apply in this case. If it were something clearly illegal you’d have a better case, but really here all you’ve got is possibly fraud and a pretty mild version at that. Proving fraud is tough...
  - duskwuff 6y ago
    Even in places where that is true, that typically only applies to employees "blowing the whistle" on illegal behavior, like violations of labor codes or hazardous conditions. It's not a blanket immunity for anyone with something negative to say about their employer.
  - AntiImperialist 6y ago
    Except when it's the government.
- dunce2020 6y ago
  It's not always 100% correct, but when asking why someone didn't do the "right" thing you can usually answer with "their material conditions."
numpad0 6y ago
Interesting that probabilities of a mishap like this has at best marginally reduced but the threshold for triggering corrective actions seems to be becoming much higher over past couple decades or so
Hamuko 6y ago
There were actually rumours a while back saying that Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed because it ran poorly on the last generation consoles. >Niespielak speaks about the situation on a popular Polish podcast, which has since been translated into English. He basically says that CD Projekt Red was running into real trouble when it came to getting Cyberpunk 2077 to perform on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One -- the latter especially. It's unclear whether Niespielak is referring to just the base systems or the Pro and X as well. CD Projekt Red even responded to the rumours, basically saying that there wasn't really a particular reason for the delay. Guess that may have been true, considering how many bugs the game still had when it released. >"No hidden agendas, just working on making the game better." That part may have not really been that truthful considering what we now know about the console versions and how they went out of their way to not show us any footage before release. https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/01/dev_responds_to_rumours_that_cyberpunk_2077_was_delayed_because_it_runs_badly_on_ps4_and_xbox_one https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/01/dev_responds_to_rumo...
Narann 6y ago
> Yet they said nothing. Why would anyone take the risk to go publicly against management?
allenu 6y ago
What's in it for the devs to blow the whistle here? It's not like a matter of public safety.
nx7487 6y ago
They did, just not publicly. That's why there were so many delays, the developers or managers kept saying "hey we're not going to make this release date, we need more time".

by mercer 6y ago

thomasedwards 6y ago

And possibly lose their job during a massive pandemic? It’s hard to be a whistleblower.

tantalor 6y ago
Retaliation against whistleblowers is illegal.
- p0nce 6y ago
  Typical developer is not allowed by contract to say anything related to the product externally. They are just respecting a contract they signed.
  - meibo 6y ago
    That's basically all of the game industry - from testers to PR to HR to art. When I onboarded at a global AAA game dev place in Japan, I got a separate sheet detailing my rights as a whistleblower - it's lucky to have these, but I doubt anyone would risk their standing/future in the industry because of something like this, especially during a pandemic.
- oneeyedpigeon 6y ago
  Not in Poland.
  - cambalache 6y ago
    Are you actually Polish? Or are you just assuming because it is not America they dont "enjoy" America Freedom(C)?
    - oneeyedpigeon 6y ago
      European. I researched whether or not Poland has legal protection for whistleblowers and it turns out they don't.
      - cambalache 6y ago
        I hardly doubt that many legislations will go out of their way to specifically protect whistleblowers, but what do I know about laws?
    - frenchy 6y ago
      I'm not sure if this is being sarcastic or not. Doesn't America have some of the weakest employee protection in the developed world (because, ironically, freedom)?
- chrismeller 6y ago
  Sure, in theory. In practice they would have let you go for performance reasons, which are only supported by this game being pulled from the store. Of course you can fight it, but while you do you still have to pay your bills and pay a lawyer, all with no income and no guarantee that it will ever make a difference, let alone when it would be resolved. EDIT: And all that presumed that the whistleblower protections would actually apply in this case. If it were something clearly illegal you’d have a better case, but really here all you’ve got is possibly fraud and a pretty mild version at that. Proving fraud is tough...
- duskwuff 6y ago
  Even in places where that is true, that typically only applies to employees "blowing the whistle" on illegal behavior, like violations of labor codes or hazardous conditions. It's not a blanket immunity for anyone with something negative to say about their employer.
- AntiImperialist 6y ago
  Except when it's the government.
dunce2020 6y ago
It's not always 100% correct, but when asking why someone didn't do the "right" thing you can usually answer with "their material conditions."

numpad0 6y ago

Interesting that probabilities of a mishap like this has at best marginally reduced but the threshold for triggering corrective actions seems to be becoming much higher over past couple decades or so

Hamuko 6y ago

There were actually rumours a while back saying that Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed because it ran poorly on the last generation consoles. >Niespielak speaks about the situation on a popular Polish podcast, which has since been translated into English. He basically says that CD Projekt Red was running into real trouble when it came to getting Cyberpunk 2077 to perform on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One -- the latter especially. It's unclear whether Niespielak is referring to just the base systems or the Pro and X as well. CD Projekt Red even responded to the rumours, basically saying that there wasn't really a particular reason for the delay. Guess that may have been true, considering how many bugs the game still had when it released. >"No hidden agendas, just working on making the game better." That part may have not really been that truthful considering what we now know about the console versions and how they went out of their way to not show us any footage before release. https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/01/dev_responds_to_rumours_that_cyberpunk_2077_was_delayed_because_it_runs_badly_on_ps4_and_xbox_one https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/01/dev_responds_to_rumo...

Narann 6y ago

> Yet they said nothing. Why would anyone take the risk to go publicly against management?

allenu 6y ago

What's in it for the devs to blow the whistle here? It's not like a matter of public safety.

nx7487 6y ago

They did, just not publicly. That's why there were so many delays, the developers or managers kept saying "hey we're not going to make this release date, we need more time".