Update (04/10/25): CD Projekt has confirmed The Molasses Flood employees were offered the chance to remain with the company post-absorption.
“We’ve made the decision to fully integrate The Molasses Flood into the CD Projekt Group,” said a CD Projekt spokesperson. “As part of this process, studio employees were offered the opportunity to transition into the new structure. Out of respect for individual privacy, we won’t be commenting on any specific personnel decisions.”
Original story: The Molasses Flood has been absorbed into parent company CD Projekt Red less than four years after it was acquired by the Cyberpunk and The Witcher developer.
A notice on the studio website confirmed the news and explained The Molasses Flood has ceased operating as a separate legal entity.
“We want to let you know that on April 1, 2025, The Molasses Flood (TMF) merged with CD Projekt Red Inc. (CDPR Inc.), a company being a part of the CD Projekt Group,” reads the brief update.
“As a result of the merger TMF, in its former legal state (of a separate legal entity) ceased its operations, while CDPR Inc. assumed the rights and obligations of TMF. The merger will not affect the availability or distribution of The Flame in The Flood and Drake Hollow video games, which will continue to be published by CD Projekt Group.”
The Molasses Food was purchased by CD Projekt in 2021 for an undisclosed fee and tasked with creating a multiplayer title set in The Witcher universe.
Work on the game—codenamed ‘Project Sirius’—appears to have stalled in recent years, with CD Projekt laying off around 29 developers at The Molasses Flood in May 2024 after deciding it needed to build a new “framework” for the spin-off.
During a recent earnings call, CD Projekt said the decision to absorb The Molasses Flood into its wider studio structure will “ensure even better alignment in the scope and direction” of Project Sirius, but will result in “some changes in the project leadership.”
It’s unclear whether those leadership changes are referring to voluntary departures or layoffs, but we do know that The Molasses Flood co-founder Damian Isla has chosen to leave the company.
In a post on Linkedin, Isla described the merger as the “end of an era” but suggested it would be “good and healthy” for The Molasses Flood team in the long-term. He also confirmed he wouldn’t be following the company post-transition.
“[The merger] breaks down some organizational barriers, and better integrates the TMF team with the rest of the amazing CDPR organization,” he wrote.
“Overall, it shows a very bright future for Project Sirius (a.k.a ‘the multiplayer Witcher game,’ of which I was the design director for three years). It’s going to be an amazing game, one for the books, and I cannot wait until the rest of the world learns about what we’ve been working on.”
Game Developer has reached out to CD Projekt for more information.
