CD Projekt Red CEO Adam Kiciński has announced a major company restructure, with 9% of the studio’s workforce set to be laid off during the overhaul. That amounts to around 100 staff, who’ll be let go over the coming months – some as late as Q1 2024. Per Kiciński, the decision has been made to ensure the company is agile going forward, as many projects wrap up, and responsibilities shift.
‘To meet our own high expectations and ambitions to create the best role-playing games, we not only want to have the best people but also the right teams,’ Kiciński said in an blog posted to the CD Projekt Red website. ‘What we mean by that is having teams that are built around our projects’ needs; teams that are more agile and more effective.’
‘We’ve carefully assessed all teams in the company in terms of their expected contribution to the delivery of our strategy. There’s no easy way to say this, but today we are overstaffed. We have talented people on board who are finishing their tasks and – based on current and expected project needs – we already know we don’t have other opportunities for them in the next year.’
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‘The outcome is the studio parting ways with around 100 people, which is roughly 9% of the entire team. This will not be immediate as some employees will be let go as late as Q1 2024 but, in the spirit of transparency, we’ve chosen to share the information now.’
CD Projekt Red has promised to support leavers with time to process the change, and ‘comprehensive’ severance packages to aid the transition out of the workforce.
The news arrives at a peculiar time, given CD Projekt Red recently announced a major slate of projects set to release in the coming years – including sequels for The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, and an entirely new AAA franchise. Given the scope and ambition of these projects, it’s unclear what the next steps for the studio are – or how this organisational restructure will impact game development and timelines.
Notably, CD Projekt Red has already announced two rounds of layoffs in 2023, following the rescope of The Molasses Flood’s Witcher spin-off, and the shuttering of support for Gwent.
Our thoughts are with those impacted by these changes.
