The fact that The Molasses Flood, a studio under the CD Projekt umbrella, has abandoned the development of its multiplayer Witcher game "Project Sirius" was already somewhat We knew. But now CDP has confirmed that the project is being "re-evaluated" and explained a bit why.

"Our intention was to reduce costs early and allow time for re-evaluation," said Adam Kiciński, President of CD Projekt, at yesterday's earnings call (opens in new tab).

"Even if development work is already underway, we need to be ready to re-evaluate the original concept," Kiciński said.

Although rather vague, it seems certain that CDP and The Molasses Flood are re-examining Project Sirius after the work already done failed to meet expectations, according to CDP CFO Piotr Nierubowicz's comments provide a bit more background: "In order to maintain the right direction and keep control, we need to evaluate the situation as we go along, especially since it is a new project in terms of design and developed by a new studio." Nierbovic added, "It is better to cut costs at an early stage and resume the project if necessary than to continue as is."

Translating The Witcher into a multiplayer experience, or to use the studio's own words, "multiplayer gameplay on top of a single-player experience that includes a campaign with quests and story Translating to experience seems to have run into some teething problems for the studios involved, with The Molasses Flood also apparently still unfamiliar with CDP (opens in new tab), which was acquired in the middle of last year.

So it will be a while before we see Project Sirius in the flesh. Details about these games are scarce, but Kiciński referred to Project Polaris as "The Witcher 4" in the same earnings call in which he described Project Sirius, and CD Projekt quickly retracted this (opens in new tab). In other words, Polaris is The Witcher 4. It is as sunny as a crisp morning in Velen.

Update: In an email, CD Projekt clarified that they have not yet reopened Sirius, but are still in the process of re-evaluating it.