CD Projekt Red is re-evaluating The Molasses Flood’s upcoming Witcher game, codenamed Sirius, and has filed an impairment charge as a result.
Twitter user game Over Thirty (below) shared an announcement to investors from CD Projekt Red, indicating that all may not be well with one of the many upcoming Witcher games. An impairment charge is filed by a business to write off assets that have dropped in value or been lost completely.
What this means for the game is currently unclear, though it is possible that CD Projekt Red has essentially reset development.
1/ CD Projekt Group is taking an impairment charge on Project Sirius. It looks like they evaluated the commercial viability of the current design and decided against it. Taking a charge indicates they want the expenses taken *NOW* because they serve no value to the company. https://t.co/mjuxGcozSX
— game Over Thirty (aka RallyCarDelta) (@GameOverThirty) March 20, 2023
It has denied the project is scrapped altogether, however, as senior communication manager PaweÅ‚ Burza told IGN that “our current focus is ensuring that Project Sirius is aligned with the strategy of the CD PROJEKT Group.
“At this point in time, we are neither providing insight into the evaluation of the project nor the potential future frameworks thereof.”
Sirius was announced in October last year alongside three other new Witcher games. Only in pre-production at the time, it was two or three years away at best, and promised to deliver the Witcher universe to an audience beyond fans of the RPG series.
The Molasses Flood, a CD Projekt Red-owned studio, ramped up its hiring for Sirius. It would be one of the first developers outside of CD Projekt Red’s core studios to create a Witcher game, alongside Fool’s Theory who are working on The Witcher Remake.
The company does have a history of scrapping non CD Projekt Red Witcher games, however. A Witcher remake was planned once before, in development at French studio Widescreen games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but this was eventually scrapped despite millions of dollars being invested.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.