Last week, CD Project RED announced that The Witcher spinoff Project Sirius was back on track after returning to the drawing board in March. However, it has come to light today that it has made layoffs centered at The Molasses Flood studio handling the project. Around 29 employees have been laid off, affecting various departments within the studio.
The news was revealed by The Molasses Flood employees, who took to their social media to announce that they had been laid off from the studio. CD Projekt RED has since confirmed the layoffs. In total, 21 employees in the US, along with eight employees in Poland, have been laid off. Already a small studio, this drastically reduces the workforce at the Boston-based studio.
The Witcher spinoff was officially announced in October 2022, alongside plans for a new The Witcher entry and an open-world remake of the first game in The Witcher series. The reason for the layoffs has been cited as the studio developing “a new framework” for the spinoff, although what this means regarding the game remains unclear. The Molasses Flood studio was acquired by CD Projekt RED in 2021 after developers that worked on Halo, BioShock, and Guitar Hero formed the studio in 2014.
Project Sirius isn’t the only thing in the works from CD Projekt RED. The studio is also currently developing The Witcher 4 and a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, which will need a lot of people power to get them up and running successfully.
After the somewhat disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077, the studio will undoubtedly be under heavy scrutiny for the sequel, and the huge fanbase for The Witcher franchise will also see the pressure piled on.
