Most game releases feel like an explosion. Pressure rises for months until the big boom of the release, followed by an incredibly calm, often boring, period.
The release of The Witcher 3 didn’t feel this way.
It was more like climbing back down after reaching the top of a mountain. You are tired and your feet hurt, but it’s not really over.
From this point on, however, things would slowly get better.
This post is the third part of a longer story. Read part 1 or part 2.
Signs of improvement
A few months after my first raise, my financial situation stabilizes.
It takes most of the money from my raise, but I move into the apartment I still live in today, for an additional 100 euros a month. What an improvement that is! I now feel good when I am home and I am pretty sure the birds sing better around here.
The other great news of the end of 2014 is that I finally reimburse one of the banks, so my payments drop by half.
I am 26 when the Witcher 3 comes out and I earn 1250 euro after taxes. My living expenses, including my student loan, leave me 300 euros. Half of it goes into a saving account, which gives me 150 euros to do things like going out, enjoy a good movie or buy a game here and there.
Things are starting to look better, but hell… I have been living like a student for the past 8 years. Honestly, I don’t understand how people even afford to buy a car in one lifetime.
Surprise, surprise
Let’s jump back to May 2015.
Now that the game has been released, each employee gets called in over a few weeks, for their annual review. It is the opportunity to hear what management and your team think of your work, as well as to give some feedback on how you feel here and what the company should improve.
Crunch, salaries, management, there’s not a single point I forget to talk about. I try to balance everything out with some good stuff about working here: the incredibly talented people, the creative freedom, and the responsibilities. I also hear some very positive feedback about my work, so that’s great.
After about 30 minutes, the review is coming to an end. I am about to stand up when my lead starts talking again.
“One last thing. The release of the game is the opportunity for the company to offer a salary bump to all the employees”
Oh?
“We’ve been very satisfied with your work and agreed to give you an 18% raise. It’s amongst the highest bumps, so congratulations.”
*Animated GIF of a rapper wearing an extravagant outfit and making the money rain*
To create a company… why not?
We are about a year after the release of The Witcher 3. Since then, I had the opportunity to work on the first big DLC for the game. Some people crunched to make it happen. I didn’t.
Among the improvement that followed the release of the game, there is the more lenient policy on crunch. It’s still a thing but much less encouraged.
One thing I haven’t talked about yet is my long-term goal for my career.
When I started school, I built a clear plan: I would work 10 years as a designer, to gather experience, then create my own company using what I had learned.
Since then, I had cut it down to 8 years, so that I would create my company when I would be 30 instead of 32. Round number, nice and smooth.
Only I start to meet several people who already own a company while working at CDProjekt. Apparently, to create a company is not such a big deal. One of my good friend, Łukasz S. – the designer who actually interviewed me 4 years prior – tells me he can set me up if I want.
Is it that hard to create a company?
Here is how it works:
He gives me the contact to an accountant friend of his
I pay her a 50 euros fees per month
She takes care of everything. Opening the company, keeping it running, taxes. Everything.
Running a company in Poland would apparently cost me 100 euros per month for the first 2 years, then 400 euros monthly.
I basically just learned that for 150 euros per month, my dream can come true right now. Of course, I wouldn’t have any employees or anything but…
I have been working on several side projects since few years, even in the middle of the crunch. I just cannot help it, having my own projects is, weirdly, a way to get my mind off work.
I am thinking that doing something more serious with these projects on the side could compensate for the money that I am not making. Indeed, I learned the concept of “Financial freedom” recently.
It’s the idea of having a cash flow that does not require you to work full time on something but still make a living out of it. For example, having a bunch of apartments that you rent, or in my case, building an online service that does not require constant maintenance.
Financial freedom means that you work because you want to, not because you have to.
I also live by a saying that I made up: it goes something like “You will run out of time before you run out of fear”. Meaning that if you wait to feel ready before taking action, you will often be too late.
This works for every situation where I need to gather some courage or prepare myself for doing something – like giving a talk in front of 200 people or, worse, approaching a stranger.
Fun fact: I rewrote this saying for this post, cause it initially was “if you wait to be ready, then when you will be ready… it will be too late”.
Why don’t you come up with a saying before judging, hm?
Plus, this 2 years timer before I have to pay full price is the perfect kind of motivation to push me forward. You are never as productive as when you have your back against the wall.
So I give it some thoughts, and a few days later, decide to contact the accountant.
I will open my company while still working at CDProjekt RED.
About the name of my company
It actually took me weeks after I contacted the accountant to give her the go. I spent all this time trying to come up with a name for my company. I may be opening it on the side, but this shall ultimately become the company of my dreams.
It deserves a proper name.
Since I am a kid, my goal has always been simple: I want to make the best games on earth. The baseline is still the same nowadays but my experience added to my mission statement.
You see, one day, during a heated meeting where I was being vocal against the idea of crunch, someone from management told me something that represents the views of many:
“Ryan, do you know a single game company that produced a critically acclaimed game without crunching?”
This single statement is the whole reason why crunch doesn’t disappear.
The answer that ran through my mind – but not through my mouth – was “I’ll show you”.
