The Witcher 3 director resigns from CD Projekt after workplace bullying investigation

witcher-3.jpg

The latest news about CD Projekt Red isn't related to Cyberpunk 2077, for once. Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, director of The Witcher 3 and staff writer on the first two Witcher games, is no longer at the company as of today. This report comes from Bloomberg, where an email shows Tomaszkiewicz has informed CD Projekt of his resignation, following an investigation into workplace bullying. He was found innocent of any allegations, according to an internal report, though he is still departing the company. As stated in his email to CD Projekt, he is leaving because other coworkers are supposedly feeling "fear, stress, or discomfort" when having to work alongside him.

The company had been conducting a months-long investigation into accusations of mobbing, a Polish term for office bullying, against the game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, according to an email to CD Projekt staff reviewed by Bloomberg. In the message, Tomaszkiewicz wrote that a commission had been formed to look into these allegations and had found him not guilty.

Tomaszkiewicz has been with CD Projekt since 2004, having begun as a junior game tester, and eventually rose through the ranks to become director for the critically acclaimed and beloved The Witcher 3, and also working as secondary director and head of production on Cyberpunk 2077.

In the email to employees, Tomaszkiewicz said the decision was agreed upon with the company’s board. “I am going to continue working on myself,” he wrote. “Changing behavior is a long and arduous process, but I’m not giving up, and I hope to change.”

:arrow: Source
 

Seliph

Best Girl ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2016
Messages
1,760
Trophies
0
Location
The People's Republic of Revachol
Website
twitter.com
XP
4,149
Country
United States
Of course the cancel culture is to blame for this. The allegations against him were found false, but the damage to his reputation was already done to a high degree. It's a #metoo situation.
Believe it or not people have left their jobs over things like this for as long as corporations have existed. Not that I endorse it if he truly is innocent, but it's business politics. This is how things have always run.

Plus we don't really have enough info about him to give a definite verdict so I wouldn't just jump to call him innocent because of "cancel culture". That's just as reductive as "canceling" him into... quitting his job? or something? Not that the word means anything anymore lmao. Citing "Cancel Culture" is just a way to demonize political opponents without engaging with what is actually going on. Very juvenile.
 
Last edited by Seliph,

Xzi

Time to fly, 621
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
17,714
Trophies
3
Location
The Lands Between
Website
gbatemp.net
XP
8,459
Country
United States
Some people here seem genuinely perplexed by the idea that a person's ability of self-reflection may reveal flaws that a commission might overlook or not find punishable.
Yeah nobody should be discouraged from seeking the time and space needed for self-reflection and self-improvement. Suggesting his co-workers forced him out of the job isn't giving him his due credit.
 

Julie_Pilgrim

Secretly three raccoons in a trench coat
Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Messages
2,645
Trophies
3
Location
(REDACTED)
Website
zoey-on-github.github.io
XP
1,882
Country
United States
Of course the cancel culture is to blame for this. The allegations against him were found false, but the damage to his reputation was already done to a high degree. It's a #metoo situation.
I don't think there were any allegations being made against him specifically, and he chose to walk away on his own terms. No need to blame "cancel culture" for this one.
Man, lang didn't even mention cancel culture but yall just had to make this political
 

Xzi

Time to fly, 621
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
17,714
Trophies
3
Location
The Lands Between
Website
gbatemp.net
XP
8,459
Country
United States
Man, lang didn't even mention cancel culture but yall just had to make this political
I don't consider "cancel culture" to be a political topic, there's a certain amount of it that comes from both sides of the aisle. For very different reasons, of course.

It's also something that shouldn't be confused for people facing consequences for their own actions. That's not the case here though, clearly.
 
Last edited by Xzi,

Spider_Man

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 28, 2015
Messages
3,915
Trophies
0
Age
38
XP
5,137
Country
United States
Maybe if the studio made quality games and having a veteran who started at the bottom, game testing, and now a bunch of kids come in, releasing shit and the company thinks its ok, we can fix it later.

Yup, that would piss me off and i would speak out towards over paid lazy cunts, if the snowflakes get upset, then fuck them, they should do a better job and not bitch because they're biased towards their bug riddled work.
 

MarkDarkness

Nocturnal
Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2009
Messages
1,397
Trophies
2
XP
3,173
Country
Poland
Anybody here who works in leadership must know how fucked it is to stay serene in a high-pressure environment like the one they created within CDPR... you HAVE to, but it's so hard.

This dude had the deck completely stacked against him. The real people who need to be held accountable remain shielded and cozy earning their millions.
 
Last edited by MarkDarkness,

Ritsuki

ORAORAORAORA
Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
1,616
Trophies
1
Age
33
XP
2,535
Country
Switzerland
Thing is, unless we actually work there and have been a witness of mobbing and/or have enough information to grasp the whole situation, we can't judge. Most of the investigation are made by the companies themselves, which obviously creates a conflict of interest. I've seen that happening to colleagues and friends, and the only thing I noticed is that if the person resigns with some kind of compensation, it's usually fishy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Seliph

Osakasan

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2015
Messages
1,236
Trophies
1
Age
39
XP
3,132
Country
Good. It's obvious why he stepped down, and it's not precisely becuse he isn't guilty.

Game companies are too opaque, game development is too taxing and toxic, the AAA industry only moves by their CEOs' greed. Shit like this needs to become commonplace.
 

Ottoclav

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
May 27, 2020
Messages
132
Trophies
0
Age
43
XP
290
Country
United States
It's hard to know how to feel about these stories without having specific examples of their behavior. The popular definition of bullying has expanded to include what many would consider just being socially inept. Maybe he's a grade-A asshole, maybe he's just antisocial - who knows without further details.
He just doesn't have the financial clout to protect himself and his work, like say a certain electric car mogul, or even a certain online shipping company owner.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

>found to be innocent
>co-workers feel stress around him
>acknowledges flaws in his own letter

...? what is the truth lmao
Once you are hunted and have stood trial, regardless of guilt or innocence, how could you remain there? He's smart enough to release a statement that he will work on himself and his attitude, understanding that if his staff doesn't feel comfortable working for him, he won't feel comfortable overseeing them. From his perspective, when is the next knife in the back? From Staff perspective, when would he go mad dog on them again?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cortador

raxadian

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2018
Messages
4,284
Trophies
1
Age
41
XP
4,450
Country
Argentina
Good riddance. Maybe now CDPR can pull their heads out of their asses when they launch games.

They made the same mistakes with the Witcher 3 but because it was not something entire new and the mess was not so big, they could patch it and the game became popular anyway.

Maybe if they had used all that money to buy a game engine that worked instead of trying to code everything, Cyberpunk would have worked better. As it is even with all the patches the game is an Alpha stage because it still has too many bugs to be called a Beta.
 
Last edited by raxadian,

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Sonics fast I would've been home in 10 mins
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Meet and greet with AncientBoi then?
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    That would've gone slow he's old
    +1
  • ZeroT21 @ ZeroT21:
    sadly the person in question feels too young for his own good
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    We don't question people
  • ZeroT21 @ ZeroT21:
    me neither, i just bash them
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    We just question @AncientBoi
  • ZeroT21 @ ZeroT21:
    it wasn't a question, it was fact
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    He said he had 3 different doctors apt this week, so he prob there. Something about gerbal extraction, I don't know.
    +1
  • ZeroT21 @ ZeroT21:
    bored, guess i'll spread more democracy
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    @K3Nv2 one more time you say such bs to @BakerMan and I'll smack you across the whole planet
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Make sure you smack my booty daddy
    +1
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    telling him that my partner is luke...does he look like someone with such big ne
    eds?
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    do you really think I could stand living with someone like luke?
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    I suppose luke has "special needs" but he's not my partner, did you just say that to piss me off again?
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    besides I had bigger worries today
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    but what do you know about that, you won't believe me anyways
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    @BigOnYa can answer that
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    BigOnYa already left the chat
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Biginya
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Auto correct got me, I'm on my tablet, i need to turn that shit off
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    With other tabs open you perv
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I'm actually in my shed, bout to cut 2-3 acres of grass, my back yard.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I use to have a guy for that thanks richard
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: I use to have a guy for that thanks richard