CD Projekt Red’s Spokko studio has announced that its Pokémon GO-style Witcher: Monster Slayer is being shut down next year and some staff will be laid off as a result.
Announced in a blog post, The Witcher: Monster Slayer will shut down less than two years after it was released on July 21, 2021 as the game will no longer be operable as of June 30, 2023.
Spokko will be merged into CD Projekt Red with only some staff members making the transition onto its other development projects.
“While The Witcher: Monster Slayer was an incredible journey, unfortunately, it did not reach our business expectations,” said the developer in another post. “Following CD Projekt’s most recent change in its long-term product strategy, we plan to start structural changes in the capital group.
“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.”
The game will be removed from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store on January 31. In-game purchases will be removed on the same day and no further updates will be released afterwards, meaning no new monsters, armour, quests, timed and daily tasks, or events.
Though this is coming much sooner, CD Projekt Red announced earlier in December that its other Witcher spin-off, Gwent: The Witcher Card Game would also receive limited developer support going forward. While its roadmap for 2023 remains relatively standard, no new content will be released for the game in 2024 and beyond, though the game will remain online.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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