Free-to-play Witcher game you probably didn’t know existed to shut down


The Witcher 3's Geralt of Rivia slaying some monsters.

Given CD Projekt Red’s sudden announcements of a massive assortment of upcoming titles including an Unreal Engine 5 remake of the first Witcher game and the imminent arrival of The Witcher 3’s next-gen update, fans have had plenty of reason to jump back into the series recently.

Players returning to The Witcher 3 on PC have been greeted by a litany of fresh mods released during their absence, that can allow you to do things like appreciate the beauty of The Continent from a distance, create a uniquely mutated build, or get an idea of what Geralt might look like if he went clothes shopping in Night City.

Though, as reported by IGN, all isn’t well for every Witcher-themed game out there, with one relatively recent release having just been delegated a shutdown date.

Have you ever played The Witcher: Monster Slayer?

The game in question is The Witcher: Monster Slayer, a mobile game released in July 2021. It's similar in concept to the wildly popular Pokemon GO, but tasks you with hunting down and battling monsters instead of collecting Pokemon.

As outlined by the game’s development studio, Spokko, in an FAQ post about the shutdown, the game: “did not reach (their) business expectations”, with the consequence of this being the decision to remove the game from stores on January 31, 2023 and shut it down completely on June 30 of the same year.

In the same post, the developer also reveals: “Moving forward, we plan to roll Spokko into CD PROJEKT RED, with a part of its staff given the opportunity to join core CD PROJEKT development projects.”, adding: “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.”

In a separate post, the Spokko team thanked the game’s players, saying: “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!”

Those who already own the game and plan to keep playing right up until it goes offline shouldn’t expect it to receive any fresh content or improvements between now and June 30, but can still contact Spokko about issues via a Support Request Form.

Regardless of whether you’re going to give the game a go before it goes offline for good, make sure to follow us to get updates on The Witcher Remake and for coverage of some cool Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 mods.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Gaming News, The Witcher, and Role Playing Games pages.