The Witcher: Monster Slayer Is Being Shut Down

The Witcher: Monster Slayer is being shut down midway through 2023, developer Spokko said this week. Spokko, a developer within the CD Projekt family, announced that the mobile Witcher game will come to an end on June 30th. That gives players plenty of time to get in some last-minute monster hunts before the game officially comes to a close, but it'll go through some "major changes" starting in February, the developer said.

An announcement on the game's site confirmed the fate of The Witcher: Monster Slayer, the augmented reality game akin to others like Pokemon Go where players are tasked with hunting Witcher monsters in the real world. Spokko looked back on the game's relatively brief tenure (it released in July 2021) and thanked players for their participation.

"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," the note from the game's creators said. "This is what made The Witcher: Monster Slayer such a unique experience in The Witcher franchise.

"We are very thankful for sharing all of this with such an amazing and passionate community from all over the world. This journey, filled with quests, events, and adventure, would not have been possible without you — together, we defeated over 100 million monsters worldwide, after all!"

While the game will indeed be playable up until June 30th, it won't be available in the mobile stores for that long. Spokko said that The Witcher: Monster Slayer "will be available on the App Store and Google Play Store until the 31st of January" at which point we'll see those major changes take place, changes that were detailed through an additional FAQ.

"After the 31st of January 2023, the in-game shop will not include in-app purchases using real money," Spokko said. "All transactions regarding the exchange of real money for in-game consumables will be unavailable. Players will still be able to exchange their in-game currencies for available items in the in-game store, up to the 30th of June, 2023."

As for the developer, the plan is to roll Spokko up into CD Projekt Red, though layoffs are expected.