The Witcher multiplayer project dubbed 'Sirius' hit with a new round of layoffs

Q: How many staff were laid off from Project Sirius in this latest round and how many were moved to other CDPR projects?

Nine people were laid off from Project Sirius in this latest round, and another nine were moved onto other projects within CD Projekt Red. The studio confirmed the cuts affected four staff in Boston and five in Warsaw.

Q: Which CD Projekt Red offices had staff affected by the latest Sirius layoffs?

CD Projekt Red said four staff in its Boston office and five in Warsaw were affected by the latest Sirius layoffs.

Q: Has CD Projekt Red provided a reason for the team-size adjustment on Sirius in its statement?

Yes. CD Projekt said the team size was adjusted "to reflect the project's needs at this stage of development." The article notes that this phrasing usually points to a shift in scope or priorities but does not detail what that new stage entails.

Q: Based on past coverage, what are the realistic possibilities for Sirius’s future (standalone release, scaled-down mode, or absorption into another project)?

Past coverage indicates a standalone release in its originally pitched form is increasingly unlikely after four years, two rounds of layoffs, and one full reboot. The article says a shift in scope is probable, with Sirius possibly becoming a scaled-down project or being folded into another product as a co-op mode rather than launching as its own full game.

CD Projekt Red has confirmed a new round of layoffs on Project Sirius, its Witcher multiplayer game, four years after it was first announced.

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Hassam Nasir

Tech Reporter

Published Aug 14, 2026 3:35 PM CDT

1 minute & 45 seconds read time

TL;DR: CD Projekt Red cut nine staff from Project Sirius and reassigned nine more, reducing the team from 83 to 65 as priorities shift. Sirius, revealed in 2022 and rebooted in 2023 after prior layoffs, faces ongoing scope changes while CDPR focuses on Witcher 4, a Witcher 3 expansion, a free-to-play co-op RPG, and Cyberpunk 2.

Voice: Hassam NasirSpeed

0:00 / 3:03

CD Projekt Red's Witcher multiplayer game, codenamed Project Sirius, has been hit with another round of layoffs, and it looks like the project's development priorities are shifting again.

According to Kotaku, nine people were let go from the Sirius team, with another nine moved onto other projects within the studio. CD Projekt confirmed the cuts in a statement, saying four staff in its Boston office and five in Warsaw were affected. Before this round, 83 people were working on Sirius. That number is now down to 65.

The Witcher multiplayer project dubbed 'Sirius' hit with a new round of layoffs 1

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Project Sirius was first revealed back in 2022 as a single-player and cooperative multiplayer Witcher game being developed by The Molasses Flood, a studio CDPR acquired the year before. It was rebooted in 2023, when 29 developers were laid off, and the project apparently went back to the drawing board.

Things stayed fairly quiet after that, though CDPR reportedly brought on Destiny 2 narrative veteran Kwan Perng as lead writer earlier this year, and the studio said development had been going better in recent months, at least until now.

The Witcher multiplayer project dubbed 'Sirius' hit with a new round of layoffs 4

In its statement, CD Projekt said the team size was adjusted "to reflect the project's needs at this stage of development." That kind of language usually points to a shift in scope or priorities rather than a project being shelved outright, but it does not say much about what that new stage actually looks like, or how long it might last before the next round of changes.

It is worth remembering Sirius is not CDPR's only project right now. The studio has more than 500 developers working on The Witcher 4, alongside the Witcher 3 expansion Songs of the Past and an unannounced free-to-play Witcher co-op RPG that reportedly leaked earlier this summer.

The Witcher multiplayer project dubbed 'Sirius' hit with a new round of layoffs 2

Moreover, the studio has confirmed plans to release 3 Witcher games within the next 6 years, while also working on Cyberpunk 2. With that much on its plate, it makes sense that a multiplayer spinoff, which has already been through one reboot, would keep losing ground when resources get tight.

The Witcher multiplayer project dubbed 'Sirius' hit with a new round of layoffs 3

Personally, I will admit I am a little skeptical Sirius ever fully ships in its original form. The Witcher's biggest sales success has always come from Geralt's personal, choice-driven single-player stories, and it is not obvious that formula translates well into a shared multiplayer world.

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Question #1

How many staff were laid off from Project Sirius in this latest round and how many were moved to other CDPR projects?

Question #2

Which CD Projekt Red offices had staff affected by the latest Sirius layoffs?

Question #3

Has CD Projekt Red provided a reason for the team-size adjustment on Sirius in its statement?

Question #4

Based on past coverage, what are the realistic possibilities for Sirius’s future (standalone release, scaled-down mode, or absorption into another project)?

Have a question about this content not listed here? Ask below and TweakBot will answer it.

Four years in, with two rounds of layoffs and one full reboot already behind it, Sirius increasingly looks like the kind of project that gets quietly folded into something smaller, or absorbed as a co-op mode elsewhere, rather than launched as its own standalone game the way it was originally pitched back in 2022.