CD Projekt Quietly Restarts Development of The Witcher Spin-Off Game, Project Sirius is a Financial Write-Off

[T0@st]

CD Projekt has admitted to writing off the development funds spent so far expended on Project Sirius - a codename for a satellite studio produced spin-off game in its best selling The Witcher series. The Polish development and publishing group is restarting Project Sirius from scratch, and it is not clear whether their East Coast USA-based outfit, Molasses Flood, will remain as part of the rebooted cycle. Within a recently released company financial report its reasoning was made clear: "The aforementioned decision is based on results of evaluation of the scope and commercial potential of the original concept of Project Sirius, and ongoing work on formulating a new framework for this project."

CD Projekt had spent over $7 million in 2022 on development costs for Project Sirius. More than $2.2 million has been spent in 2023, presumably right up until the decision to bin all currently completed work. Project Sirius was announced in the autumn of 2022, and at around that time Molasses Flood was undertaking a large scale recruitment drive. The game was in a pre-production phase by the end of the year, with over sixty members of staff confirmed to be working on it. Development was also being supported by members of CD Projekt RED's team at their Warsaw headquarters, and now it is very apparent that the overseers were not happy with what was going on in New England.



Little is known about Project Sirius beyond details revealed by the CD Projekt group - it was announced as being: "An innovative take on the Witcher Universe, telling an unforgettable story for existing Witcher fans and new audiences." CEO Adam Kiciński also reiterated: "The game will be set in The Witcher universe, but it differs from our past releases in that it targets a much broader audience. Sirius will provide both single-player and multiplayer gameplay."



CD Projekt purchased US-based developer, The Molasses Flood, back in October 2021. The studio was founded as an independent development outfit in Boston, Massachusetts in 2014 by talented veterans who had previously worked on the Bioshock, Halo, Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. Prior to the acquisition by CDP, Molasses Flood was best known for its survival and base-building games The Flame in the Flood (2016) and Drake Hollow (2020).



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[Deleted member 177333]

Hmm we'll see what they do. With their involvement into ESG now and seeing their moderation teams censoring people on Steam messageboards I'm quite skeptical with future releases from CDPR. Definitely a company I will no longer pay for games from.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Hmm we'll see what they do. With their involvement into ESG now and seeing their moderation teams censoring people on Steam messageboards I'm quite skeptical with future releases from CDPR. Definitely a company I will no longer pay for games from.

yeah, they have shown the company they are today, questionable to say the very least.

 

[mechtech]

"it is very apparent that the overseers were not happy with what was going on in New England."

which is/was??

 

[AusWolf]

CEO Adam Kiciński also reiterated: "The game will be set in The Witcher universe, but it differs from our past releases in that it targets a much broader audience. Sirius will provide both single-player and multiplayer gameplay."

If there is one thing we should have learned in the last decade or so, it is the fact that entertainment that tries to appeal to a broad audience doesn't really appeal to anyone.