CD Projekt Red has provided a report on Project Sirius, its multiplayer Witcher spin-off, suggesting that development could be starting afresh.
A multiplayer game set in The Witcher universe, in development under the title Project Sirius, has been in the work for at least a year. But according to report intended for investors, published on CD Projekt Red’s website, the project could be about to go back to the drawing board.
After evaluating “the scope and commercial potential of the original concept of Project Sirius,” the report reads, there has been “ongoing work on formulating a new framework for this project.”
Announced in 2022, Sirius is billed as a “multiplayer gameplay on top of a single player experience”, and development is being handled by The Molasses Studio, which previously made 2020’s Drake’s Hollow.
Sirius is a codename for the game developed by @molassesflood, set in The Witcher universe and created with support from CDPR. It will differ from our past productions, offering multiplayer gameplay on top of a single-player experience including a campaign with quests and a story pic.twitter.com/aoX7wlIfRO
— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) October 4, 2022
As a reminder that making games is hellishly expensive, CD Projekt’s Report reveals that “33.4 million PLN” was spent on Project Sirius by the end of 2022 – that’s the equivalent of about £6.2 million, or $7.6 million. Between January and February 2023 alone, expenses came to £1.8 million (approximately $2.1 million).
The report goes on to state that those expenses will come out of CD Projekt’s bottom line (“…will accordingly burden the financial results for the first quarter of 2023.”)
Exactly what happens to Project Sirius now remains to be seen, and CD Projekt clearly isn’t willing to talk about its future plans for the game – “Our current focus is ensuring that Project Sirius is aligned with the strategy of the CD Projekt Group,” the company told Eurogamer. “At this point in time, we are neither providing insight into the evaluation of the project nor the potential future frameworks thereof.”
Not that Project Sirius is the only Witcher game in development. CD Projekt Red also has an Unreal Engine 5-powered remake of the original entry in the series is in the works, as well as an entire new trilogy.
Away from The Witcher, there’s also Project Hadar, “ a third, entirely distinct IP, created from scratch within CDPR.”
More news on all of these as we get it.
