Cyberpunk 2077 had an extremely infamous launch and a new whistleblower claims they stem from issues with the game’s quality assurance.

Any search for bugs in the game would yield many results of the issues that plagued the game during its initial launch back in 2020. The launch was received poorly enough that recently developer CD Project Red had settled a class action lawsuit over the game’s quality.

Many other problems include one reviewer suffering a major epileptic seizure, and performance being unplayable on consoles. The latter resulted in Sony delisting the game from their PlayStation store. Even after it was reinstated, the company still does not recommend purchasing.

Now it’s been reported that major issues with the Cyberpunk 2077 launch and development cycle could be blamed on Quantic Lab, an outsourced QA company, lying to CDPR and providing poor meaningless work. YouTuber Upper Echelon Gamers (UCG) reported that someone with ties to the company contacted them regarding their alleged shady practices.

These practices in regards to CD Project involve lying about the number of employees set to work on the project, lying about the experience of employees working on the project, and bombarding the developer with pointless bug reports due to quotas.

One reported example in lying to CDPR during the development of Cyberpunk 2077 would be what Quantic Lab told the company on the experience of the team. CDPR were allegedly led to believe they would be receiving a team of veterans, which occurred back when they worked on The Witcher 3. This was not the case though.

Instead, they reportedly got a team of junior QA testers, meaning those with under a year of experience, were assigned to work on the game. Allegedly the lead for this team also only had about a year of experience to their name as well.

The source noted the whistleblower provided a 72 page document detailing both proof that they work for the company. These documents also provide a view on how Quantic Lab operates, with many questionable and downright illegal practices in regards to the companies they work with.

However, it should be noted that these documents are not visible on the video linked above, nor are they available for viewing in the public.

The reasoning for this is that leaking these documents break the nondisclosure agreement (NDA) employees sign when working for the company, and becomes a legal issue. The leaker also states this is another problem with the company in how they silence those attempting to bring light to issues.

This also naturally has the potential in revealing the identity of the whistleblower and could get the video struck down via a copyright claim, which is why UEG has held back in showing the documents uncensored.

If the allegations are true, then it would certainly lend more explanation to Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky launch for something that is not reflective of CD Projekct RED’s pedigree.

Considering the monumental amount of issues plaguing the game, however, including performance problems on last gen consoles, the news does not absolve of them their role in the failure surrounding the game’s launch.

However, this information also goes further than just Cyberpunk 2077. Quantic Lab is one of the major outsourced QA companies in the gaming industry. According to their website, they work with many different game developers beyond CDPR. Other major examples include Ubisoft, THQ Nordic, Deep Silver, Paradox Interactive, and more.

In November 2020, they were acquired by Embracer Group, a company that has made many purchases of gaming companies in recent years. Their latest big acquisition includes Crystal Dynamics and Edios, which own IPs such as Tomb Raider and Deus Ex.

With this leak gaining more traction, in regards to such a big game like Cyberpunk 2077, there is a possibility that Embracer Group may look to auditing Quantic Lab, though whether they decide to do so remains to be seen.