CD Projekt Red laid off nine employees working on Project Sirius and reassigned another nine internally to other projects in August 2026, citing a shift in the game's development strategy and team size adjustment to current needs [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Project Sirius is a multiplayer-based Witcher spinoff first announced in October 2022. It is described as blending single-player and multiplayer gameplay and targeting a broader audience than previous Witcher games. CD Projekt said the title is being developed in-house following the full absorption of The Molasses Flood studio in 2025, which had been initially acquired in 2021 to lead the project [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Prior to the layoffs, CD Projekt reported in May 2026 that 83 people were working on Project Sirius, mostly spread between locations in Boston and Warsaw. The layoffs reduced the team size to roughly 60 people, about a 20% cut [1, 3, 5, 6]. According to a company spokesperson, four laid-off employees were in Boston, five in Warsaw, while the nine staff reassigned have been invited to apply for internal roles on other CD Projekt Red projects [3, 5].

The layoffs follow a previous restart of Project Sirius in 2023, when 29 developers were let go as the game’s scope and direction shifted [1, 2, 3, 4, 6]. Piotr Nielubowicz, CFO of CD Projekt, said the re-evaluation reflects a need for innovation and staying in control during development of a new type of game for the company: "I’m aware that it’s not great to hear from a company that the project is being re-evaluated. But at the same time, in order to stay innovative we must experiment and be brave when trying new paths, and to stay in control and keep the right course, especially with a project that is new to us in terms of design, developed by a new studio in our family" [2].

Adam Kiciński of CD Projekt noted that Sirius will differ from past Witcher titles by targeting a broader audience and combining single-player and multiplayer elements [2]. No official cancellation of Project Sirius has been announced. However, no gameplay or details beyond codenames have been publicly revealed since its initial announcement in 2022 [1, 3, 6].

Other major CD Projekt projects currently underway include The Witcher 4 with 513 staff, Cyberpunk 2 with 163 employees, Project Hadar with 24 staff, and a Witcher 3 expansion planned for 2027 [1, 3].

CD Projekt’s next major update on Project Sirius or related titles is expected as development continues under the new team structure.