The Witcher developer The Molasses Flood hit by layoffs
by Danny Craig
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CD Projekt
After restructuring its Witcher co-op project, The Molasses Flood has let go of several employees from the studio.
The details:
- Former employees at CD Projekt’s The Molasses Flood revealed on Twitter that the studio laid off employees following the reboot of Project Sirius. According to its LinkedIn page, the studio already had 11–50 employees, and it appears that the changes to Project Sirius' meant that some staff would no longer be needed for the game's future development. Designers and artists appear to be the most affected, with art producer Caryn Boehm, technical narrative designer Robert Bailey, and senior environment artist Gannon Jaspering among those laid off.
- Neither CD Projekt nor The Molasses Flood has issued a statement or made any comments about the situation. As a result, the specific reasoning behind the layoffs, as well as the number of employees directly affected by the decision, are unknown to the public.
- Last week, parent company CD Projekt confirmed that Project Sirius was back in development with a "reformulated framework" after deciding to reevaluate the project in March and write off approximately $10 million in expenses. The relaunched project will use "a material part of the already developed elements of the game," prompting the publisher to reverse a portion of the written-off costs, though it's unclear whether the game will still be a co-op PvE title, as previously reported.
Other recent layoffs:
- Ubisoft has confirmed that up to 60 customer service employees have been laid off in the US and the UK. Several affected employees claim that the layoffs occurred with no warning or preparation, leaving many in a difficult situation.
- Unity has announced the layoff of 600 more employees, resulting in an 8% decrease in its workforce. The company had already laid off around 200 employees in early 2023, and between 200 and 400 in July 2022.
- Phoenix Labs, best known for its 2019 free-to-play RPG Dauntless, confirmed that 9% of its total workforce was laid off due to a "reorganization" within the company. Although it refused to provide specific figures, it is estimated that around 30 people were directly affected.
