CD Projekt Confirms Layoffs on The Witcher Multiplayer Spin-Off, Issues Statement
CD Projekt has confirmed layoffs on The Witcher multiplayer spin-off, codenamed Project Sirius.
First reported by Kotaku, nine staff working on the game were cut. In a statement issued to IGN, CD Projekt confirmed four staff in its Boston office and five in its Warsaw headquarters lost their jobs, with nine others told they could apply for potential roles on other projects. As of April 30, Project Sirius had 83 staff working on it. That number is now presumably closer to 60.
“We adjusted the size of the Sirius team to reflect the project’s needs at this stage of development,” CD Projekt said. As a result, four people in Boston and five in Warsaw are leaving the company, while nine others have been invited to internal recruitment processes for potential roles on other CD Projekt Red projects.”
CD Projekt brought Boston-based The Flame in the Flood developer The Molasses Flood into the fold to make Sirius back in 2021, but it has suffered difficulties in the years since. Indeed, this isn’t the first time it’s had layoffs. In 2023, CD Projekt said Sirius had a "new framework" after restarting development. Layoffs followed.
There is no suggestion today that Project Sirius is canceled, but it is now nearly four years since it was announced and CD Projekt has yet to show anything of the game. Meanwhile, the company is hard at work on The Witcher 4 (513 staff), Cyberpunk 2 (163 staff), and new IP Project Hadar (24 staff). There’s also a The Witcher 3 expansion coming next year and a remake of The Witcher 1.
On top of that, CD Projekt has an extremely ambitious plan to launch The Witcher 4, The Witcher 5, and The Witcher 6 all in a six-year time period. It's this plan which essentially rules out the possibility of expansions for The Witcher 4. And then there’s Cyberpunk 2 to slot in at some point.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.