We started hearing a lot about staff layoffs from technology companies lately. CD Projekt Red is joining its ranks and has started laying off almost a hundred staff in the process. The studio is heading towards a release of a massive Cyberpunk 2077 expansion, Phantom Liberty, this September. Rumors have also swirled that Sony could be planning to buy CD Projekt Red. Despite things going well for the studio, it’s disappointing to learn that the company has laid off more workers. Here’s what CD Projekt tells about the current wave and the reason behind it.
CD Projekt Red Is Laying Off Nearly 100 Staff
The bad news was shared in a blog post by the company CEO Adam Kiciński. He mentions that the studio is overstaffed and has to stop working with approximately nine percent of its entire workforce. That’s around 100 people, most of whom won’t be laid off immediately. The company plans to extend the process until Q1 2024 and let the workers get prepared for the changes in their lives. That’s helpful because a job hunt could take a few months for some people, but it isn’t a luxury that was given to the employees laid off immediately.
The studio is currently working on a big project: the Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077. This expansion features a massive set of changes and will almost act as a relaunch of the game itself. The expansion will go live on September 26, and the entire workforce is currently focused on that. Since the studio doesn’t plan on immediately laying off workers on this project, the development process shouldn’t be affected. But things could be different in time for its future titles like The Witcher remake.
It’s sad to see another game studio getting smaller. Similar things scenarios happened in various big studios, such as Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts.
