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[doniewhalberg]

Hmm, sad to read as one of the (seemingly) few that genuinely enjoyed Crysis 1, 2 and 3. I thought they were great games, some fun batshit storylines, just a good experience all round. Can't say I'm surprised this is happening though, as it's clear their games have not even nearly pleased the majority of people, and with a company that size, you need to be selling on a really high level. Still, I look forward to Homefront, would love another Crysis game before they go away, I'd even play another Ryse if it had some major expansion from the base they built with 1.

 

[Yopis]

Sad to hear hope they find a way back.

 

[Mdk7]

Hunt is not gonna change the situation i guess (saw the presentation at E3, didn't really feel it).

 

[Mman235]

I thought Crytek were keeping their money coming from engine licenses, but given that's not the case (and apparently for good reasons) it's not a surprise at all that they're dying with their gradually lowering game quality, F2P endeavours that don't seem to be doing anything impressive, massive (seemingly oversized for what they're making) employee base and seemingly constant chasing after the easiest money with no hint at long-term plans.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

As someone who considers the original Crysis their favorite FPS I'm sad to see this. I'm not really that surprised though. Like others have mentioned, I was curious where all their money was coming from to buy Free Radical, Vigil, etc. At the same time, their engine never really got adopted despite all the hype around it. Now with them talking about going FTP only, it makes a lot more sense.

Blaming consoles for this isn't really fair imo. After the success of Crysis, Crysis 2 was supposed to be the showcase title (like Gears for UE3) to sell their engine. I can't really fault them for trying that, but I was upset about the gameplay changes made in Crysis 2 over the original. In any case, they still may have got what they wanted had they handled Crysis 3 differently. Not only could it have been a cross platform and/or launch title for PS4/XB1, but they could have repaired the franchise and fanbase as well. Instead we got a game that aside from graphics/art feels like the minimal effort was put into designing it. That might have been partly EA's call, but it only released 7 months before PS4/XB1 which seems like a missed opportunity. Again it begs the question of what those 800 employees are doing.

The big problem appears to be their management - maybe even Yerli himself. It's obvious the series was on a steady decline after the first game and I knew some key people behind the original Crysis and FarCry left, but the review below offers a little more explanation. Some of these reviews are pretty damning of the management of the company.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Crytek-Reviews-E347451.htm

There is an obvious lack of direction. In the past 2 years, the CEO promised several times the dev teams they could work on new projects, only to cancel those a few months later and to disrespectfully split these teams. Therefore the level of trust in the CEO is now very low. The destruction of the Crysis team for instance is one of the collateral damage of this lack of vision. Eventually, highly talented designers, artists and managers ended up on subpar projects or are used as insourcers. Crytek used to be a visionary leader in the industry, these times are over. For these reasons, many strong talents are leaving the boat.

 

[Bogey]

No documentation,
barely any tutorials,
no source,
terrible, terrible forums,
over 200 sounds? Have to license a different sound engine for $700,
stop subscribing and lose all access unlike UE4
Probably the worst pipeline I've ever seen for a game editor, you have to use 3ds max and nothing else

I can probably write more if you want

I agree, but I think some of those points only applied to indie devs. As far as I know (all a bit based on hearsay), those who subscribed to the paid version of CryEngine could get access to its full source code and support - of course at a pretty hefty fee. That was under their old licensing model though, I'm not really well aware of their new one.

Generally speaking, completely agree to your points though. I used to play around with the indie CryEngine for a bit, and it was a horrible experience.
- The dev kit was completely geared towards FPS games. When creating a new project, you literally started out dropping into the world in first person view with a weapon in your hand. So when aiming to create another genre, not only did you have to create all necessary code for that specific genre yourself, but first you had to remove all unnecessary FPS features by hand first. Which wasn't easy at all, see the next point...
- You really can't stress enough how bad the documentation really was. When trying to dig into the available parts of the C++ source, it was basically pure trial and error to find the right methods / code location you were looking for. And good luck with that, as you can imagine, there was a LOT of source code to search through.
- The community was relatively small and mostly inexperienced. If you had any questions or issues, you were usually on your own, most questions remained unanswered. If anything, most questions were answered by further comments such as "oh yea I'd really like to know this, too".

Too bad actually, CryEngine (potentially) has incredible visual fidelity, and those guys really knew how to push technical boundaries. But for indie devs or even smaller commercial teams, I just don't see any reasonable justification in choosing CryEngine over Unity or UDK.

 

[sentry65]

That's interesting about the lack of documentation with their engine. Sounds like they really blew it since all the features in the world are worthless if no one can figure out how to use them.

When they announced they'd sell cryengine for $10 a month subscription as a reaction to beat out Unreal's $20 a month I was thinking that seemed like a dying business move. Unreal already had the market share and then making twice the money on top of that made me think Unreal seems to be on much more solid ground. That move just screamed of desperation.


Anyway, I can't help but think their business model of having the best graphics to sell their games/tech was bound to fail in the long run once other engines caught up.

Like a developer deciding if they want to get into using Unreal or Unity - they're both eventually going to offer identical features (way) down the road. They're just taking different approaches to get there. In a way I see it similar to the SGI computers of the 90's dominating the graphics industry with all their awesome hardware, only to succumb to PC's. Once everyone had access to cheap, but reasonably powerful computers, their core market evaporated.

 

[shacklesmcgee]

From the crydev.net thread about this article, and dsogamings coverage

This is crytek staff

These threads are a cesspool and are not welcome on this site.

 

[Nokterian]

From the crydev.net thread about this article, and dsogamings coverage

This is crytek staff

wooooow that is some nice people over there for sure...yikes.

 

[Sweet Ivy]

I really hope they can survive, maybe downsizing a bit?
Crytek has really expanded a lot in just a few years.

Personally I do want to see another Crysis: the nanosuit has become so iconic!

I saw both Hunt and Arena's Fate at E3 and they both looked quite promising to be honest.
I think Arena's Fate could be quite successful, it's a straight-to-fun/combat kind of MOBA and I feel it can appeal also to non-MOBA lovers (such as me, lol).


Cryengine might have suffered for the new Unreal 4 subscription based-system (among other things).

 

[Caayn]

From the crydev.net thread about this article, and dsogamings coverage

This is crytek staff

Well from Crytek's point of view those threads must hurt to read. Not saying it was a good or bad decision.

 

[Unreal Champ]

As an indie developer should we not bothering trying to get a license for CryEngine and look elsewhere. We would like to use UE4 but our problem is the royalty they charge. Also we hear that it's hard to do 60 fps on UE4. At the moment Unity would be hard for us to use because it wouldn't be able to reach the graphic fidelty we are aiming for.

 

[CozMick]

They've never developed a decent game. Colour me surprised that they ain't doing too well.

I also can't think of a game using cryengine that benefits from it.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

would be a great buy for MS

Can you not read?
It's not a great buy for anyone, much better to wait for them to implode and then pick the remaining IP's and key staff....like a Vulture.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I just looked up the list of Parters games.

Yikes.

Holy shit; that really puts the partners scheme into perspective. Though it might have seemed good for the developer to pair with the biggest publisher in the world, almost all of those releases were goddamn car crashes.

What would a theoretical Crytek bankruptcy mean for games in development licensing their engine? I'm thinking specifically of star citizen.

Chances are that if Crytek go under they will be bought out, whether that's in full or in pieces. CryEngine will still exist and I'm sure there are a few companies out there who would gladly pick it up, and though they might not continue to license the engine they would probably have to honour existing contracts with some level of support.

 

[DodgyGeezerFella]

Sad to hear as they made my favourite FPS of the forever (Crysis), but it always worried me the direction they went afterwards (Cancelling patches, buying boat loads of studios, full attack on console development, then going into F2P company, then extra gface weird services). They just seemed to be going as far away from what made them successful to use a new business model. Really sounds like they needed to slow the hell down with their expansion.

Cevat always seemed so passionate in interviews too.

 

[Zeuzonita]

My friend works there, they haven't gotten paid in 3 months. His head of studio is on vacation!

People are resigning like crazy. I just feel sorry for the people. They were told to not go public and so on.

 

[fasTRapid]

My friend works there, they haven't gotten paid in 3 months. His head of studio is on vacation!

People are resigning like crazy. I just feel sorry for the people. They were told to not go public and so on.

Hmm.........................

 

[The Boat]

I feel like the heads of the studio got too obsessed with making Crytek a huge company and lost their way. I only played Crysis 1 and enjoyed it very much, but it's always troubling when jobs are at risk.

 

[Woo-Fu]

I guess the Free 2 Play bubble is bursting, huh?

Nah, the crappy games bubble burst.

There are still fortunes to be made in F2P, just need to make good games.

The engine licensing game is a winner-take-all business too. You're either the engine everybody uses or you get peanuts.

 

[OverHeat]

My friend works there, they haven't gotten paid in 3 months. His head of studio is on vacation!

People are resigning like crazy. I just feel sorry for the people. They were told to not go public and so on.

3 months holy shit, I would have bailed after 2 weeks

 

[Chû Totoro]

Sad for the people working here but I never liked this company (both regarding the games they made and the way they were seeing the evolution of gaming... seems they were at least wrong somewhere).

Good luck for the talented people who worked or are still (trying) to work here.

Edit : here is my last post in a Crytek's thread...

I can fill my iMac's 16GB of RAM easily while doing everyday things... it's not even comparable but I'm just going here because if your job is to make the best engine possible I wouldn't find it a good sign to ask for more than 8GB when the gen is at the beginning and when last gen was way under this.

I never liked Crytek engine's graphics but I now think that they're not only bad at making games but also bad at making engines (maybe? or at least this sound like they could be very badly optimised).

 

[Neuromancer]

My friend works there, they haven't gotten paid in 3 months. His head of studio is on vacation!

People are resigning like crazy. I just feel sorry for the people. They were told to not go public and so on.

Holy crap. Sounds like it's the beginning of the end over there.

 

[trugc]

Some industry insiders posted on a Chinese game forum,saying that staff at Crytek's Shanghai studio haven't gotten paid for months. Lots of people have left the company.

 

[BriareosGAF]

My friend works there, they haven't gotten paid in 3 months. His head of studio is on vacation!

Man, that sucks, and I feel for those folks. When I did my post-university startup (games on Linux!) there were many touch & go lean times, where out of the blue you'd get a note from your health insurance company that your coverage had been cancelled for non-payment. Then there were the shenanigans like folks finding out before others that the payroll checks were in, and sneaking them out of the VP's office so they could cash them before anyone else. Good times.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Fucking hell, I didn't even know Crysis 3 was out! Nice marketing skills.

 

[Squalor]

They haven't made a good game in a long time.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

My friend works there, they haven't gotten paid in 3 months. His head of studio is on vacation!

People are resigning like crazy. I just feel sorry for the people. They were told to not go public and so on.

I'm sorry, but you'll forgive me if I'm a little sceptical of this claim.

 

[zomgbbqftw]

Buying Free Radical (Crytek UK) seems like it was a bad idea. Especially after Haze was such a poor game, it didn't seem like there was much to salvage from them except the Time Splitters IP/Trademark, but they didn't even use that (at all?).

If the rumours about non-payment of wages is true then it really is the beginning of the end. Any investment from Wargaming.net will be too late.

 

[Lord_Balkan]

As an indie developer should we not bothering trying to get a license for CryEngine and look elsewhere. We would like to use UE4 but our problem is the royalty they charge. Also we hear that it's hard to do 60 fps on UE4. At the moment Unity would be hard for us to use because it wouldn't be able to reach the graphic fidelty we are aiming for.

You can't use more than like 200 sounds if you use cry engine unless you want to pay 700+ dollars. C4 engine has 0 royalties and full source code, but it is still a 750 dollar investment per person unless you wait for a sale and get it for ~500. I personally can't stand unity- it is low cost but severely limits your freedom (I'd rather be limited by my skill then my tool). The royalty on UE4 is really not that bad, but yeah if you are making anywhere near a complex game- performance can be an issue.

 

[Zeuzonita]

I'm sorry, but you'll forgive me if I'm a little sceptical of this claim.

You may be sceptical, I'm just sharing what he shared with me. Either way, media will find out the truth very soon because of this thread and you can confirm my claim.

 

[Opiate]

You may be sceptical, I'm just sharing what he shared with me. Either way, media will find out the truth very soon because of this thread and you can confirm my claim.

Or not confirm it.

If the situation is as bad as is being reported, everyone is able to point fingers at whatever their pet hatred is. Crytek had their fingers in so many pies; in the last 8 years, they have been a PC-exclusive developer, a developer transitioning to consoles, a developer making open world games, a developer making the transition to "cinematic" games, a developer transitioning to F2P games, a developer becoming a publisher, and a publisher with a lot of (seemingly unused) purchased IP.

What narrative do you want to put forward? Do you hate F2P games? Then surely this is proof that the F2P bubble has burst. Do you hate cinematic games? Then this is proof that the AAA roof is collapsing. Do you hate consoles? This game shows that consoles are where companies go to die. Whatever you want to "prove," Crytek's struggles will allow you to prove it --at least as long as their struggles remain in the abstract.

 

[CHC]

Sad about people's jobs and so on of course,
but c'est la vie. Crytek has made many poor decisions since their more successful days, so it isn't totally surprising to see it catching up with them. Crysis 3 and Ryse were both just straight up bad games, nothing redeeming at all aside from the graphics.

Cevat Yerli always struck me as a egomaniac also, slapping his name in the opening credits like he's some kind of video game auteur.

 

[Jibbed]

Solution: Pour all remaining man-power and resources into TimeSplitters 4.

Result: Profit.

 

[SparkTR]

Solution: Pour all remaining man-power and resources into TimeSplitters 4.

Result: Profit.

More like

Result: Bankruptcy, but go out in a blaze of glory.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Cevat Yerli always struck me as a egomaniac also, slapping his name in the opening credits like he's some kind of video game auteur.

I've always found that puzzling too. I think even now the Far Cry series is still credited as 'based on Far Cry by Cevat Yerli'. That must have been a condition of the sale from Crytek to Ubi, and just smacks of egotism.

Solution: Pour all remaining man-power and resources into TimeSplitters 4.

Result: Profit.

I genuinely don't understand why they didn't at least make TimeSplitters 2 HD. They'd surely get at least a couple of hundred thousand sales from it.

 

[Black Mantis]

They should just let Microsoft have the Ryse IP, because who really cares about Ryse?

I do, for one. The first was decent, but a sequel that included more weapons/moves, chariot sections, more exploration opportunities, could be great. Same way I felt Uncharted was decent at best and the sequel improved on it in every way and was great.

 

[Dictator93]

I've always found that puzzling too. I think even now the Far Cry series is still credited as 'based on Far Cry by Cevat Yerli'. That must have been a condition of the sale from Crytek to Ubi, and just smacks of egotism

Yeah. Very cringeworthy to see that in the front credit roll of every Crytek game.

 

[Joni]

Whatever you want to "prove," Crytek's struggles will allow you to prove it --at least as long as their struggles remain in the abstract.

To be fair: his narrative is that people are leaving and the company is struggling. It is the easiest to be proven.

My friend works there, they haven't gotten paid in 3 months. His head of studio is on vacation!

Yeah, that guy probably isn't on vacation. He is job hunting.

 

[SniperHunter]

and nothing of value will be lost.

crytek has been mediocre for a few years now. When a studio that made Crysis Warhead doesn't get to make another game, you know things are fucked up....

 

[Opiate]

To be fair: his narrative is that people are leaving and the company is struggling. It is the easiest to be proven.

Absolutely. That second paragraph wasn't directed at him specifically/exclusively.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Just to put this in perspective, if reports about Crytek having ~800 employees are accurate, that's almost one tenth the number of EA or Ubisoft. Considering the output comparisons, that seems pretty insane for Crytek to have ballooned so large when they don't really have a reliable income like Team Fortress or Dota 2.

 

[nbnt]

Crysis developer Crytek denies "verge of bankruptcy" claim

 

[Armaros]

Just to put this in perspective, if reports about Crytek having ~800 employees are accurate, that's almost one tenth the number of EA or Ubisoft. Considering the output comparisons, that seems pretty insane for Crytek to have ballooned so large when they don't really have a reliable income like Team Fortress or Dota 2.

Also to put it into perspective, they have been around for about as long as Valve, and Valve has made about double the games of crytek.

 

[SparkTR]

Crysis developer Crytek denies "verge of bankruptcy" claim

Sounds like something a developer who's on the verge of bankruptcy would say.

 

[Nirolak]

Crysis developer Crytek denies "verge of bankruptcy" claim

Well:

Before E3 one source told Eurogamer staff at Crytek's Sofia office in Bulgaria hadn't received salaries for the past two months.

Eurogamer has also received worrying reports coming out of Crytek UK, which is rumoured to have failed to pay employees on time. Management have been accused by some staff of a lack of transparency over these issues, and many are disgruntled, Eurogamer has heard.

But Crytek may have secured investment and thus its future - in the short term at least. The GameStar report mentions a potential buyout by World of Tanks maker Wargaming, but Eurogamer has heard investment from a Chinese firm may have been tabled.

 

[Polk]

3 months holy shit, I would have bailed after 2 weeks

Well in some countries you get paid monthly not weekly.
But yes, 3 months are terrifying news.

 

[Donos]

3 months holy shit, I would have bailed after 2 weeks

in Germany and some other EU countries, it's common that you get your pay every month. 2 month would be my limit.

 

[Joni]

in Germany and some other EU countries, it's common that you get your pay every month. 2 month would be my limit.

Where I live it even has to be paid within seven days of the end of the next month, or the company needs to start paying interest. The unions where I work even started complaining when payments where two days behind the regular schedule two months in a row demanding action to be taken concerning our payment agency. So even waiting two months is already long.

 

[Krejlooc]

Hmm, sad to read as one of the (seemingly) few that genuinely enjoyed Crysis 1, 2 and 3. I thought they were great games, some fun batshit storylines, just a good experience all round. Can't say I'm surprised this is happening though, as it's clear their games have not even nearly pleased the majority of people, and with a company that size, you need to be selling on a really high level. Still, I look forward to Homefront, would love another Crysis game before they go away, I'd even play another Ryse if it had some major expansion from the base they built with 1.

Crysis 1 is the best of the bunch by a mile, IMO, but I enjoyed all 4 games in the series (you forgot Warhead). I would love another game like Crysis 1. I liked how open it was, you could approach any situation a hundred different ways. It made for some cool replays. One time you'd go in trying to be as stealthy and sneaky as possible, the next you'd go all out rambo style. Even the beginning of the game can be played a number of ways - hijack a jeep and barrel down the roads, or sneak through the jungle, or, my favorite, swim like a shark to the boats and then jump up behind the crew, taking them all out before they can react, to steal the boat and drive around the peninsula with ease.

The other games were graphical showcases still, but they played very differently.