CD Projekt Red, the developers responsible for games such as The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, is laying off about a hundred people across different teams.
In a statement released on July 26, CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciński announced that there will be gradual layoffs, finishing as late as Q1 of 2024. These layoffs will see the company part withs with roughly nine percent of its current workforce.
The statement states that the layoffs are part of their approach to having not just the best people but also the “right teams.” After an assessment of all teams, they’ve concluded that they are overstaffed, and won’t have other opportunities for them to work on in the next year.
According to Kiciński, the release of this statement is an attempt from the studio to be transparent, releasing the statement now even though the layoffs will take place over the coming months.
CD Projekt Red is currently working on projects that include Project Sirius and Project Polaris, both of which are connected to The Witcher franchise. Each project has 200 employees involved based on the strategy update they posted back in 2022, however the layoffs are their chance to make teams that are much more suited to the project’s needs.
CD Projekt Red is just one of multiple companies that have laid off parts of their workforce this year. Electronic Arts laid off around 800 people in March 2023 while Meta will also cut down 10,000 of its employees by the end of the year.