The Witcher: Monster Slayer to be shut down, layoffs at studio expected
Developer proud to have "captured what it was like to be a Witcher in real life".
Pokemon GO-style Witcher spin-off, The Witcher: Monster Slayer, is being shut down in the middle of next year. Staff members at CD Projekt Red's Spokko studio are also expected to be laid off.
As announced in a news post, the game will be go offline on 30th June 2023.
Monster Slayer will also be removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store on 31st January 2023, while all in-game purchases will be disabled on the same day.
A new development roadmap and FAQ has been released to detail changes being made to the game in the run-up its closure.
"We are proud that we were able to create a location-based AR experience that captured what it was like to be a Witcher in real life and gave the community a chance to battle Witcher-world monsters up close and in person. This is what made The Witcher: Monster Slayer such a unique experience in The Witcher franchise."
The same FAQ states that Spokko will be merged into CD Projekt Red, with only some staff members moving over to other development projects.
"Moving forward, we plan to roll Spokko into CD Projekt, with a part of its staff given the opportunity to join core CD Projekt Red development projects. During this transition, there will be some staff members who will, unfortunately, be let go. However, we will do our best to support all of our employees affected by this situation and ensure the transition to the next step in their careers is as easy and safe as possible."
This isn't the only Witcher spin-off to be canned as the CD Project Red reshapes its business. Yesterday the company announced plans to wind down support for Gwent, its Witcher card game.
The Witcher: Monster Slayer only released in July last year, to middling reviews. Bertie's impressions of the game at the time largely reflected that.