Cyberpunk 2077 has officially gone gold, signaling that it’s ready for a planned mid-November release. However, after breaking promises to avoid crunch, the company’s practices have left developers and consumers wondering if it’s worth the effort.

The long-awaited open-world sci-fi RPG has captivated gamers since the first teaser trailer debuted in 2013. Regular updates have kept the game in the industry's sights as an ambitious project that fills a gap in the ever-shrinking field of AAA titles.

However, in order to meet these high expectations, CD Projekt Red, the video game publisher responsible for popular titles such as the Witcher series, implemented mandatory 6-day work weeks, forcing employees to work stressful overtime before the game’s release. A failure of expectations, according to studio head Adam Badowski.

“I am taking it upon myself to receive the full backlash to the decision,” Badowski wrote in an alleged email to employees, according to a report by Bloomberg. “I know this is in direct contradiction to what we have been saying about crunch… It is also in direct contradiction to what I have personally come to believe for some time: that crunch should never be the answer. But we have expanded every other possible tool to navigate the situation.”