30 employees are set to be laid off from the now closed Gwent team as the popular CCG title reaches an end to its updates. Gwent is, or now was, the card-game spinoff from CD Projekt Red’s popular Witcher Franchise.
Last year it was announced that Gwent would be ceasing further development, however a silver lining was that certain community tools would be made available, allowing players to continue to tweak and improve the game without the intervention of developers.
In the latest stage of the games ‘closure’ it seems that rather moving onto other projects, at least 30 of the Gwent team will be leaving CD Projekt Red by the end of the year.
In a statement on the Gwent website, the studio expressed their condolences. “Even though decisions like this are unavoidable and a natural result of the transition, we’d like to express our sincere thanks for all the contributions these team members have made to GWENT – just like the community, you helped make the game what it is today.”
Moving away from mobile
And although in their most recent financials the company expressed their intent to continue focusing on mobile, with the closure of Spokko – the studio behind their Witcher AR spinoff – and now the axing of former Gwent devs, it seems like the company is not considering it a priority.
The focus for CDPR right now is resting squarely on the developer’s upcoming tried and tested AAA offerings elsewhere, such as Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion and a new Witcher title currently in development.
The news of the job losses may be worrying for those that are hoping the community tools promised for what is known as “Gwentfinity” will be in place when development ceases, but CD Projekt Red remained positive, stating, “Rest assured that we are still working hard to follow through with the roadmap and make sure the game is where we want it to be by the time GWENTfinity kicks into action.”
