You’d think CD Projekt RED would try to keep controversial stuff to a minimum with only months to go before the launch of Phantom Liberty, the first and only premium expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. Except, that doesn’t seem to be stopping the Polish video game developer from disclosing its plans to let go of nearly 100 employees, nearly a tenth of its total workforce.
According to the official blog post, this decision is part of a realignment process aiming to optimize the team size relative to ongoing projects and the company’s broader strategy.
CEO Adam Kiciński commented on the layoffs, expressing the difficult reality the company finds itself overstaffed. “We’ve carefully assessed all teams in the company in terms of their expected contribution to the delivery of our strategy. We have talented people on board who are finishing their tasks and — based on current and expected project needs — we already know we don’t have other opportunities for them in the next year,” he elaborated.
Kiciński’s statement echoed the growing concern for efficiency that has been reverberating in the gaming industry recently. The redundancies will occur gradually, with some employees not departing the company until early next year. The affected employees have been assured a comprehensive severance package and ample time to adjust to the impending change.
In the last few years, CDPR has been weathering turbulent times. This follows the troublesome launch of Cyberpunk 2077 which took three years to rebound into something close to success, with a new expansion named Phantom Liberty arriving this September.
Furthermore, CDPR has publicly announced an ambitious roster of upcoming projects. These include a new Witcher trilogy projected to be completed within six years, a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and a novel IP code-named Project Hadar as well as remake of the first The Witcher game.
Amid these revelations, the layoff news has raised some eyebrows. There’s a high level of anticipation around how CDPR will deliver these seemingly extensive projects with a reduced workforce.
Nevertheless, it’s important to consider the size of the teams involved in past projects. The Witcher 3 was initially created by 150 employees, which later expanded to 250. Cyberpunk 2077 was developed by a workforce twice as large, which by 2019, the company had 1,100 people under its umbrella. Therefore, even with the layoffs, the current staff capacity might be sufficient to take on the planned endeavors.
This wave of layoffs follows a pattern of downsizing within the company. Earlier in May, the developer released around 30 employees from the Gwent team after ceasing support for the card game. Another batch of layoffs targeted about 29 or so employees of The Molasses Flood, a studio owned by CDPR, working on a Witcher spin-off game named Project Sirius.
This has been a common occurrence this year, with several other gaming studios undergoing similar downscaling efforts. The impact has been felt across the industry, with companies like Firaxis, Microsoft, Twitch, Riot Games, Relic, and EA announcing their own rounds of layoffs.
As CDPR navigates through these transitions, it’s clear the developer is looking to reshape its operational processes and its methodologies, shifting towards a more agile and effective model of functioning. Regardless of the complex dynamics of the industry, the hope remains that these changes will help CDPR consistently create top-quality games, adhere to set timelines, and curtail undue crunch, all while fostering more effective project teams.
The coming months will be a pivotal period for CDPR, with the studio’s dedication to its existing and upcoming projects being put to the test. In the meantime, the gaming community can only hope that those affected by these layoffs will find new opportunities in the industry soon.
