CDPR Group update - 5 Witcher games, Cyberpunk 2077 sequel and new IP in production.

[Robotigan]

Still should have been free as unfucking your game's performance/issues shouldn't cost extra.

Imagine not owning all the DLC and getting SE for free. Couldn't be me.

 

[Robotigan]

I don't feel like CDPR has changed much at all. Maybe if you got really attached to the Witcher storylines you feel like there's been some decline, but as someone who really couldn't be arsed to care about that stuff I don't see it. I see a company that always prioritized pixel pushing over robust game and technical design. They've always been obnoxious marketers that sucked up to "hardcore PC gamer" sensibilities. Their mechanics have always been terrible and unwieldy. They've always had red flags of a messy development process. They've always relied on grinding out raw assets to carry their game. Post-fix Cyberpunk is essentially the same game as TW3. If you liked the latter, there's no reason you should hate the former besides succumbing to popular narratives. I think it's easier for their former fans to insist the company has somehow been sabotaged from the inside than to admit their preferences had always been somewhat shallow.

 

[Old Hans]

I see a company that always prioritized pixel pushing

it's funny cause their real priority has always console gaming. Even back during Witcher 1 times their goal was consoles.

 

[Duraframe300]

Nippon taking Witcher away from Potato.

Spoiler

It's a 4chan rumor

 

[Kedar]

I see a company that always prioritized pixel pushing

it's funny cause their real priority has always console gaming. Even back during Witcher 1 times their goal was consoles.

I don't think that's true. The Witcher 1 console port was outsourced way after the first game was released for PC. Even The Witcher 2 wasn't released on PlayStation because no one in Poland knew how to make console games (while 360 was close enough to PC).

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.eurogamer.net/cd-projekts-stalled-the-witcher-spin-off-now-has-a-new-framework

CD Projekt's stalled The Witcher spin-off now has a "new framework"​

Following word of a complete reboot.

Following suggestions in March that CD Projekt's The Witcher spin-off Project Sirius had been rebooted from scratch, the studio has confirmed its development is back on track, with "work on defining a new framework" now complete.

Project Sirius - a part-solo, part-multiplayer experience being developed by The Flame and the Flood studio Molasses Flood - was announced last October as part of CD Projekt's ambitious studio roadmap, which included a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, a new IP, the next Witcher trilogy, and a remake of the first Witcher game.

However, March brought the news work on Project Sirius had stalled after CD Projekt had re-evaluated the "scope and commercial potential of the original concept". At the time, the company told investors it was in the process of "formulating a new framework" for the game that was better "aligned with [its] strategy".

"It's better to cut costs early," CD Projekt's chief financial officer Piotr Nielubowicz added in a subsequent financial earnings call, "and even restart if needed, than to carry on."

The news was accompanied by confirmation CD Projekt intended to write-off funds allocated for Project Sirius, but the company has now released a fresh regulatory announcement detailing a partial reversal of its impairment allowance for 2022 and a write-off of part of the development expenditures it incurred in Q1 2023.

Both of these are said to be connected to the "conclusion of work on defining a new framework for Project Sirius", suggesting CD Projekt's previous concerns with the game have now been resolved. Boston-based studio The Molasses Flood, which the company acquired in October 2021, is still attached to its development.

CD Projekt's next release will be its Cyberpunk 2077 expansion, Phantom Liberty, which is due to be detailed more thoroughly some time in June.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Hhmm, part single-player part multiplayer spin-off.... in this day and age...

Witcher themed battle royale? With sex card loot boxes?

 

[hayst]

Hhmm, part single-player part multiplayer spin-off.... in this day and age...

Witcher themed battle royale? With sex card loot boxes?

I was thinking Dark Souls style invasions but sex cards is much more thematic to Witcher.

 

[Infinitron]

Buttfucked: https://kotaku.com/witcher-4-sequel-cd-projekt-red-molasses-flood-layoffs-1850437987

The Multiplayer Witcher Spin-Off Game Reboots, Lays Off Developers​

The Molasses Flood loses staff as CD Projekt Red rescopes Project Sirius​

CD Projekt Red has a bunch of Witcher games in various stages of development, and one of them appears to have just undergone a major overhaul. Project Sirius, a multiplayer Witcher spin-off has “changed,” and the studio is laying off close to 30 developers who are working on it, CDPR confirmed to Kotaku.

Project Sirius was first announced last October alongside plans for a new Witcher trilogy and an open-world remake of the first game in the series by an outside studio. CDPR’s recently acquired indie studio, The Molasses Flood, known for The Flame in the Flood, was meant to be the main team behind Project Sirius, which would offer the option for single-player, and, for the first time in a Witcher game, would also include multiplayer.

It’s unclear now if that’s still on the table. Back in March, CDPR revealed a massive write-off for costs associated with its development, and now developers at The Molasses Flood have reported being laid off on May 11 after CDPR finished “defining a new framework” for the game.

“Because the project changed, so has the composition of the team that’s working on it–mainly on The Molasses Flood’s side,” a spokesperson for CDPR told Kotaku. “The concrete number of employees we parted ways with is 21 team members in the US and eight in Poland (working on the project outside of the US).”

The company declined to say anything further about the game, or what precipitated the change in direction and layoffs. “Yesterday I was laid off from Molasses Flood,” tweeted now former technical narrative designer, Robert Bailey, on May 12. “It’s not as fun to update the bio this time. I enjoyed the work I’d been doing until my last day and would love to keep doing that.”

The Molasses Flood is based in Massachusetts and was founded back in 2014 by former Halo, BioShock, and Guitar Hero developers. It was acquired by CDPR in 2021, who said at the time that the team would retain its own identity and not be merged with the Cyberpunk 2077 studio. The Molasses Flood team was fairly small prior to the acquisition, and it’s not clear how many developers are left following the layoffs.

In addition to its slate of Witcher games, CDPR is also currently working on a massive paid expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 called Phantom Liberty as well as a sequel to the first game that will include multiplayer content. That project, like many others at the Polish company, likely remains several years away.

 

[moon knight]

Hhmm, part single-player part multiplayer spin-off.... in this day and age...

Witcher themed battle royale? With sex card loot boxes?

I was thinking Dark Souls style invasions but sex cards is much more thematic to Witcher.

Much more fun too.

 

[The Wall]

Polish gaming industry = American WOKE narrative + WOKE esthetics + BORING gameplay BUT 50% of the time DOESN'T fall apart

 

[Frozen]

What gaming industry? They have only this 1 company and they are falling apart.

 

[FFTW]

there was a rumor that Sony might acquire CDPR, but CDPR said the rumor isn't true
https://www.thegamer.com/cd-projekt-shoots-down-sony-acquisition-rumours/
Glad that was false. Enough with the acquisitions already.

 

[just]

theyd fit right in

 

[blessed king of longing]

there was a rumor that Sony might acquire CDPR, but CDPR said the rumor isn't true
https://www.thegamer.com/cd-projekt-shoots-down-sony-acquisition-rumours/
Glad that was false. Enough with the acquisitions already.

apparently this is a longtime false rumor and was rumored before cp77 even came out. safe to ignore probably forever

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Nippon taking Witcher away from Potato.

Spoiler

It's a 4chan rumor

Monster Hunter with a Witcher theme?

 

[Chinese Jetpilot]

 

[ropetight]

It does not mean anything... yet.
Maybe they are reducing workforce after most work on CP2077 is finished.
On the other hand, maybe they overstretched with all this parallel projects, so reducing damages is in order.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Hhmm, part single-player part multiplayer spin-off.... in this day and age...

Witcher themed battle royale? With sex card loot boxes?

I was thinking Dark Souls style invasions but sex cards is much more thematic to Witcher.

Sex Cards? In 2023? With pressure from the woke American market / Blackrock?
Nah, that's not going to happen. Remember the yanks threw a fit over them in Witcher 1, and they haven't been in the series since.
Would have made Gwent a lot more interesting had they stayed.

 

[Abu Antar]

They canned a few projects, so it could be why.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

They canned a few projects, so it could be why.

Before everything will be said and done, I'll be the "Told you so" guy.

 

[RepHope]

I expect the endgame at this point for the heads is to sell to MS or Tencent.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

They canned a few projects, so it could be why.

If CDPR's leadership had any sense, they would have concentrated as much of their workforce as possible on The Witcher IV two-and-a-half years ago.

 

[OSK]

Sex Cards? In 2023? With pressure from the woke American market / Blackrock?
Nah, that's not going to happen. Remember the yanks threw a fit over them in Witcher 1, and they haven't been in the series since.
Would have made Gwent a lot more interesting had they stayed.

What if they make them gay sex cards instead? Maybe throw in a few feminine penises?

 

[RobotSquirrel]

I expect the endgame at this point for the heads is to sell to MS or Tencent.

Do we really want GOG.com owned by either of them. God damn this'd send curation back to the dark ages.
We'd have to liferaft all their shit to Archive.org if it happened, the ESA would go crazy slapping lawsuits on everyone like used to happen in the old abandonware days.
This will be a really shit outcome. Fuck I hate CDPR.