A new studio has already risen from the ashes of one of Crytek's recently closed studios.
Crytek announced last week that it would be closing a number of its studios, including offices in Budapest, Sofia, Seoul, Shanghai. It followed cash-flow issues that meant the management were unable to pay staff for two months.
The Sofia studio was originally called Black Sea Studios before Crytek purchased it in 2008, and was rebranded Crytek Black Sea. The team's output includes Knights of Honor, WorldShift and Arena of Fate.
Now Black Sea Games has returned as an independent outfit. It is led by Vesselin Handjiev, who founded the original Black Sea in 2001 and was the MD of the studio under Crytek until September this year. The new company was formed in November, which suggests that re-launching the studio had been on the cards for a while, and predates the recent issues Crytek had in terms of paying employees.
