Project Sirius, CD Projekt Red’s bold endeavor to develop a multiplayer offshoot of the well-known Witcher franchise, is facing considerable obstacles. Recently, the Polish developer and publisher confirmed to IGN that they have terminated 18 employees from the project, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the total team assigned to Project Sirius. This group was already significantly smaller than the CD Projekt Red team working on the primary single-player continuation, The Witcher 4.
The layoffs have impacted developers in two ways: half have been let go, while the remaining half have been given the chance to seek positions in other CD Projekt Red projects via internal recruitment procedures. This represents the second occurrence of workforce reductions for Project Sirius, following a significant reboot of the initiative in 2023.
The challenges encountered by Project Sirius underscore the complexities of extending the Witcher universe into multiplayer domains, a pursuit that has turned out to be more complicated than originally thought. In spite of these challenges, CD Projekt Red persists in seeking new avenues for their cherished franchise, all while balancing expectations and the realities of game development in a constantly changing industry landscape.