Well, I’m glad the game isn’t getting canned completely. CD Projekt Red has fired nearly 30 developers, both American and Polish, working on Project Sirius as the game is getting completely overhauled into a brand-new framework.
As I said in the intro, reshuffling developers and creating a brand-new idea is far better than the game being completely cancelled.
Despite having more than enough Witcher title set to be released in the upcoming future, CD Projekt Red has not completely abandoned Project Sirius as they’ve created a new framework for the now-defunct multiplayer title and have laid off nearly 30 developers working on the former title. Talk about a lot of upheaval for the studio, right?
So, I’m sure Project Sirus, which was supposed to be a multiplayer game set in the Witcher universe at an unknown/unspecified date in the lore, wasn’t really going to be the pinnacle of the new Witcher projects in development for most players given the fact the game was a multiplayer title (the Witcher trilogy was famous for its single player open world) and that a small indie developer, Molasses Flood, was the lead developers.
Yes, CD Projekt Red actually wasn’t the studio in complete control of this project as they handed off the responsibility to the previously mentioned Molasses Flood…which has seemed to backfire on them.
Now, I’m not saying Molasses Flood is a bad studio or anything like that as I’ve never played their games, yet this isn’t a great look for the competency of the team.
I mean, if CD Projekt Red, which isn’t a goliath studio to begin with, found the need to fire nearly 30 developers (29 to be exact) from both the Poland and US locations because of how poorly the game was being crafted, that’s just not a great look as to the quality of this game.
Still, that’s why I’m glad CD Projekt Red has seemingly taken a far more active role in the development and creation of this game as a multiplayer title in the Witcher universe really does have the potential to be great.
I’d have to imagine the concept of a multiplayer game is still in use given the fact that CD Projekt Red is expanding into the multiplayer genre with the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel set to feature a multiplayer mode, so it would only make sense they’d keep the broad concept of the multiplayer ideas and change around the story, characters, and gameplay features of Project Sirius.
Plus, the desire from the gaming community for a fantasy-inspired multiplayer game is definitely there as Elder Scrolls Online and the Skyrim Together Mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have been massively popular.
So, the ability to play as a Witcher, Sorceress, Sorcerer, knight, monster, etc. against other players of the Witcher community in essentially one massive, interactive Gwent battle royale is just waiting to be realized by CD Projekt Red and Molasses Flood.
We’ll have to wait and see if the Polish publisher can get this project functioning again.
Images Source: Featured Image: (CD Projekt Red) (The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt)
