On July 27, CD Projekt Red — the Polish studio that rebuilt its reputation through years of painstaking work on Cyberpunk 2077 — announced it would part ways with roughly 100 employees, about 9 percent of its people, as the demands of one chapter give way to the quieter needs of the next. CEO Adam Kiciński offered no euphemism: the work that required these hands is finishing, and the work ahead does not yet require them. It is a familiar rhythm in creative industries, where teams rise to meet a moment and must then reckon honestly with its passing.
CD Projekt Red to lay off 9% of staff as Cyberpunk 2077 expands
Approximately 100 employees will be laid off with severance packages offered, representing 9% of CD Projekt Red's total workforce.
We are overstaffed. We have talented people finishing their tasks.
Mark
Why would a studio lay off people when it's actually releasing new content and expanding into comics and novels? That seems backward.
Mimi
It's about the shape of the work, not the amount of it. They hired a lot of people to fix Cyberpunk 2077 after launch. Now that work is mostly done. The expansion is coming, yes, but that's a different team size than what you need to rebuild an entire game.
Luke
Right, but we should be careful here. Kiciński says they're "overstaffed relative to current and expected project needs." That's his assessment. We don't know if there were other options—could they have kept people on for the Witcher projects, or the next Cyberpunk game? We're taking the company's framing at face value.
Mimi
Fair point. But the fact is they're not cutting during a downturn. They're cutting because they've completed phases of work. That's different from a studio in trouble.
Mark
And the severance packages—do we know if those are actually generous, or is that just what they're calling them?
Luke
The statement says "comprehensive," but there's no detail. We don't know what that means in practice. It could be industry standard, it could be above it. That's a gap in the reporting.
Mimi
The other thing worth noting is the timeline. They're spacing these out through Q1 2024. That's not a panic move. That's managed.
Mark
So this is CD Projekt Red saying: we built up, we fixed the game, now we're right-sizing. Is that the story?
Mimi
That's part of it. The bigger story is that Cyberpunk 2077 is finally becoming what they promised. The layoffs are almost a side effect of that success.
Luke
Or a sign that the work to fix it is done and they don't need as many people anymore. Both things can be true.
El Pulso
- A hundred people — nearly one in ten at the studio — will lose their jobs in a layoff that will unfold gradually through early 2024.
- The cuts arrive not from failure but from a kind of success: the crisis-era hiring that saved Cyberpunk 2077 has run its course, leaving more staff than the next phase of work can absorb.
- CEO Adam Kiciński broke from corporate habit by naming the problem plainly — overstaffing — rather than dressing the decision in strategic language.
- Affected employees will receive severance packages, and the phased timeline gives some workers months before their final day arrives.
- Even as people are let go, the studio's franchises are expanding — Phantom Liberty launches in September, and Cyberpunk is spreading into comics and novels.
- The studio is recalibrating, not retreating, positioning a leaner team to carry two major franchises into their next chapters.
On July 27, CD Projekt Red — the Polish studio that rebuilt its reputation through years of painstaking work on Cyberpunk 2077 — announced it would part ways with roughly 100 employees, about 9 percent of its people, as the demands of one chapter give way to the quieter needs of the next. CEO Adam Kiciński offered no euphemism: the work that required these hands is finishing, and the work ahead does not yet require them. It is a familiar rhythm in creative industries, where teams rise to meet a moment and must then reckon honestly with its passing.
On July 27, CD Projekt Red announced it would lay off approximately 100 employees — around 9 percent of its workforce — in a restructuring tied to the natural conclusion of a years-long rebuilding effort. CEO Adam Kiciński was unusually candid in his statement: the studio had talented people finishing their work, but the pipeline ahead simply didn't have enough to keep them all. The cuts will happen gradually, with some departures beginning soon and others extending into the first quarter of 2024. All affected employees will receive severance.
The timing carries a certain irony. CD Projekt Red is not struggling — it is, by most measures, in the middle of a comeback. Cyberpunk 2077, which launched in 2020 in a state that became a cautionary tale for the industry, has spent years being repaired and restored. The Phantom Liberty expansion arrives September 26, and the broader Cyberpunk universe is expanding into comics and a new novelization. The Witcher franchise continues alongside it.
What the studio is shedding is the workforce it needed to fight its way back. Game studios routinely grow large during intensive production phases and shrink once major milestones are cleared. What sets this announcement apart is its scale and its honesty — a hundred people is a significant number, and Kiciński named the reason without softening it. The layoffs are a recalibration, a studio adjusting its size to match the quieter, more focused work that comes after the storm.
CD Projekt Red, the Polish studio behind Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, announced on July 27 that it will lay off approximately 100 employees—roughly 9 percent of its workforce. The decision came in a statement posted to the company's website and authored by CEO Adam Kiciński, who framed the cuts as a response to overstaffing relative to the studio's actual project pipeline.
Kiciński's language was direct: the studio had talented people finishing their assigned work, but based on what the company knew about its needs over the coming year, there simply wasn't other work waiting for them. The math was straightforward, if grim. Around 100 people would need to go. The layoffs won't happen all at once. Some will begin soon, while others won't occur until as late as the first quarter of 2024, giving the studio time to wind down projects and transition responsibilities. Everyone affected will receive what the company described as a comprehensive severance package.
The timing is notable because CD Projekt Red is not in retreat. The studio has multiple major initiatives underway across its two flagship franchises. Cyberpunk 2077, the game that launched in a notoriously broken state in 2020 and spent years being rebuilt, is finally gaining momentum. The Phantom Liberty expansion is set to arrive on September 26, and early signals suggest it will be substantial enough to draw players back. Beyond the game itself, the Cyberpunk universe is expanding into other media. Dark Horse Comics will begin publishing a four-issue series called Cyberpunk 2077: XOXO starting in October. Polish author Rafal Kosik is releasing a novelization titled Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence on August 8.
The layoffs represent a recalibration rather than a crisis. CD Projekt Red hired aggressively in recent years, building the team needed to fix Cyberpunk 2077 and develop new content. Now that certain phases of work are concluding, the studio is adjusting its headcount to match what it actually needs going forward. It's a common pattern in game development—teams swell during production, then contract when major milestones are reached. What makes this announcement notable is the scale and the candor. A hundred people is substantial. And Kiciński didn't hide behind euphemism; he said the studio was overstaffed and named the consequence directly.
Citas Notables
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.— Adam Kiciński, CEO of CD Projekt Red
Quieres la nota completa?
Lee el original en OnMSFT ↗
Business