The Witcher spin-off studio hit with significant layoffs after project restructure

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Departures are linked to changes to the studio's Witcher game

The Witcher 3 next-gen
(Image credit: CDPR)

The Witcher's Project Sirius studio appears to have been hit with layoffs.

Last week on May 11, CD Projekt announced The Witcher's Project Sirius was effectively back on track, having been successfully rebooted from its original vision. A day later on May 12, staff at The Molasses Flood, the CD Projekt-owned studio heading up the project, took to social media to reveal they'd been laid off from the developer. A tweet from Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach claims that 29 developers were affected.

An unattributed quote states that "because the project changed, so has the composition of the team that's working on it - mainly on The Molasses Flood's side."

Officially, we've heard no word from The Molasses Flood or CD Projekt announcing layoffs for its developers. Former technical narrative designer Robert Bailey revealed via his personal Twitter account that he'd unfortunately been laid off from the Boston-based studio last week.

Elsewhere, it seems like The Molasses Flood's art department has also been impacted by the layoffs. Environment artist Eleanore Falck announced via her Twitter account that she'd been laid off alongside Bailey on the same day, and both are now on the hunt for new opportunities.

It appears that the layoffs have had a significant impact, as sites including LinkedIn suggest that The Molasses Flood only employed a few dozen developers before the layoffs. That could mean a large proportion of the workforce has departed the studio.

Aside from The Witcher's Project Sirius spin-off, CD Projekt also has The Witcher 4 on the go, and is also making a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, two undoubtedly massive projects that will require hundreds of developers to complete. In the more immediate future though, we've got the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion launching at some point next year.

Check out our upcoming CD Projekt Red games for a complete look at everything the developer has in the pipeline.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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