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Last week we reported that Poland-based game developer CD Projekt had completed his business moves, making it a publically traded company. However the GameBanshee web site is now reporting that one of their subsidary developers, Metropolis Software, closed its doors shortly before the transition.

CD Projekt bought Metropolis Software in February 2008. Before the purchase the developer had released several games including their 2007 third person action game Infernal. Metropolis Software had been working on a sci-fi FPS called They for some time (pictured above) but the last footage of that game was from a CD Projekt trailer that was released nearly a year ago. GameBanshee claims that Metropolis Software had its work force cut to about 12 people earlier this year and now the remaining staff have either been let go or absorbed into CD Projekt. They's current status is "on hold". We've emailed CD Projekt's PR head but he has given us a "no comment" about this news for now.

It wasn't long ago that developer CD Projekt was promoting the fact that their fantasy RPG The Witcher had sold over 1.2 million copies. This week, however, rumors have been flying that the studio is in the midst of a financial crisis and has canceled or put on hold two Witcher follow-up projects.

Other sites have reported on the now public feud between CD Projekt and Widescreen Games over a console version of The Witcher which is now on hold after being announced last December. However GameBanshee is also reporting through unnamed sources that due to the current worldwide financial crisis another game at the studio was cancelled with CD Projekt "forced to lay off a significant portion of its staff". The current "on hold" status of the console Witcher game has also caused more layoffs this week at CD Projekt, according to the article, claiming that the remaining staff are all focused on working on The Witcher 2, a still unannounced game that the story claims is being developed for both PC and consoles.

When contacted, CD Projekt''s PR rep told Big Download he could not comment on the state of projects that have not been announced yet. He did tell us, "I can say that we have had some layoffs, as has been the case with a lot of other companies in the industry. I don't think that's anything out of the ordinary." In addition to CD Projekt's main development office in Poland, the company also owns the GoG.com retro PC download site. It also owns Metropolis Software which has been working for some time on a first person shooter, They. CD Projekt's PR rep did say on the record, "it's generally business as usual throughout the CD Projekt Group – Metropolis Software, CD Projekt RED and GOG.com are all still working on projects."

Christmas is now over and we are now just a few days away from the start of 2009. As with the beginning of any new year there is a feeling of excitement of what the next 365 days will bring. For the PC game industry the new year is already looking very bright with a ton of highly anticipated game titles due to be released in the next 12 months.

Big Download has looked into our crystal ball (ok, it's actually a Bioshock bobble head doll) for all of the games we hope to be playing in 2009. The result is a multi-part preview we will be running in the last days before 2008 is over with that will give you some idea of what to expect. Keep in mind that our preview is not meant to be totally comphensive as there are a number of games our there that have yet to be announced. Also, release dates for games can and do change so many of the titles in our feature might not make 2009 (in fact we have put in some games that we know won't be released this year)

We even have some exclusive new screenshots to some of the games we are featuring in our preview article. One such shot is above from the upcoming Raven Software-id Software-Activision shooter Wolfenstein. For our first part of our 2009 PC game preview we take a look at a number of upcoming action and first person shooter titles. Stay tuned on Saturday as we will preview even more action games in the works.

Update: The second part of our action-FPS preview is now live

Click on the image above to continue reading our 2009 PC game preview on action and FPS titles

CD Projekt has already given some hints about their next project in a recent trailer celebrating 1 million copies sold of their action-RPG The Witcher. Now the developer-publisher is teasing its fans again via an online "hunt" for clues on their various sites.

The Witcher community site is the starting point where they say, "Are you eager to learn our deepest, darkest secrets? Would you really like to see what we're working on before anyone else?" They suggest going to their PC retro gaming download site GoG.com to start finding clues. The payoff? "Be the first to find all the clues and you'll be rewarded with... something." One known project is the upcoming sci-fi shooter They which is being developed by CD Projekt's team at Metropolis Software.

[Via Blue's News]

Developer CD Projekt had reason to celebrate this week. The company behind the acclaimed PC RPG The Witcher has announced that the game has now sold through 1 million copies since the first version of the game shipped to stores a year ago (last month the Enhanced Edtion of the game shipped to stores).

For a game that's a non-sequel title from a developer that isn't considered one of most well known in the business, selling 1 million copies of a game is a pretty big deal. In its press release, CD Projekt hinted at more Witcher games in the future and also hinted about their upcoming first person shooter They which they acquired when they bought game developer Metropolis Software.

Metropolis Software gave us the graphically rich and physics heavy third person action game Infernal in 2007. Now the developer, recently purchased by CD Projekt, is working on their next title, a sci-fi first person shooter that's simply titles They. The developer just released a new batch of screenshots for the press and public to take a look-see.

The screenshots show off some really, really big and powerful hand weapons that seem to be used in shooting some kind of aliens. Some of the creatures look like metallic robot spider thingies while others look like they are a cross between the aliens shown in Independence Day and The Abyss. The developers want players to custom create their own weapons in They and they promise that players will never have had the type of freedom to make their own weapons like they will have in this game. Metropolis is keeping some aspects of the game secret for now. For instance we know that the game takes place in London but we don't know exactly why we are going to be fighting some alien bad guys. We still have a long wait before They is completed; it's due for release for the PC and other platforms in late 2008.