BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Not a big surprise. They haven't made a great game in 7 years. It was just a matter of time
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Gamestar.de: The vultures are circling over Crytek [Up3: Eurogamer/Kotaku jump in]
- Thread starter DieH@rd
- Start date
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
How is this possible?! The concept just seems like such an obviously good one. I'm stunned.
Unthinkable!
Just gonna say it right now to those posting how it would be 'so simple' to turn things around doing obvious moves and actually using their successful IP's: In a lot of corporate structure, you will end up with those in charge choosing every single path besides the one that will actual work out of stubbornness and fear [to stray from their established business plan].
That's sounds pretty crappy A shame too. I hoped UE wouldn't win by default again..
ArchedThunder
Banned
I actually want to hear more, sounds like a flaming train wreck.
Windom Earle
Member
KKRT00 and SenjutsuSage on suicide watch.
Seriously though, the reasons why this is happening have been laid out very well in this thread. Rarely has the demise of a developer been this expected and to a certain extent deserved. It's sad for the employees, but the leadership in that company is terrible and Yerli has been a laughingstock for years.
Seriously though, the reasons why this is happening have been laid out very well in this thread. Rarely has the demise of a developer been this expected and to a certain extent deserved. It's sad for the employees, but the leadership in that company is terrible and Yerli has been a laughingstock for years.
RyanPierre
Member
I hate seeing people lose their jobs, but if the company were to go belly up, I'd really like to see the Timesplitters IP shopped around and bought by a company who would do something with it. I can't believe they're still sitting on that.
Not sure what this Timesplinters thing is, but I'm intrigued!
Not sure what this Timesplinters thing is, but I'm intrigued!
Seems like a few issues:
01. CryEngine put no dent in Epic's business over the past few years. id at least got a pay day from Bethesda after they stopped competing on engine deals.
02. They chased the COD train, but games like that sell based on multiplayer. I have never come across someone who cared about C2 or C3 multiplayer.
03. What kind of decision making is going on where Homefront gets a sequel instead of Timesplitters?
And that is all separate from the F2P issue.
01. CryEngine put no dent in Epic's business over the past few years. id at least got a pay day from Bethesda after they stopped competing on engine deals.
02. They chased the COD train, but games like that sell based on multiplayer. I have never come across someone who cared about C2 or C3 multiplayer.
03. What kind of decision making is going on where Homefront gets a sequel instead of Timesplitters?
And that is all separate from the F2P issue.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
One of my best mates works at a company who licences the Crytek engine to create virtual walktrhoughs and stuff for the Australian defence force.
People know about the former as its current. The latter is an unknown thing for many.
ginger ninja
Banned
800 employees and they are primarily making Free2Play games..GG
OldAsUrSock
Banned
I know, but that still doesn't change the fact that it runs poorly on PS3 and 360.
eddfromtheriver
Banned
I wonder if Insomniac is going to have the same issue with MS about retaining the IP for SO "if" it becomes successful enough to warrant a sequel...
ProfessorMoran
Member
They bet on the wrong horse but there was no way they could have known when they signed the deal. They should have signed with a third party publisher but hindsight is 20-20.Maybe just Maybe they shouldn't go with Microsoft all the way and go Multiplatform. For my Crytek was always a PC/Xbox developer. I am german, but we have to say that their Games were always pretty generic and flat. The 1st Crysis and Far Cry were their best Games, but then they released pretty average games. Maybe they should cut the team size and get good writers for storys etc.
neogaffer1
Banned
It depends if they make a very popular and selling game that ends up scoring in the 60s. MS is probably wanting to give a successful brand to another game dev that will more likely give them a higher reviewed game to make sure the brand doesn't end up going down in flames like Crysis did.
There would be no issue unless they needed MS funds for the second game. Looks like Crytek needs the funds.
eddfromtheriver
Banned
I'm asking because Insomniac wants to retain their IP's from now on, so if MS wants a sequel to SO but also want to keep the IP. That would be a problem for Insomniac.
Miles Quaritch
Member
What do you mean by bet on the wrong horse? For Ryse? You do realise that game was in development for years and started as a 360 Kinect title?
Steverulez
Member
Yeh, Phil Spencer said they wanted to own the IP they funded but there were exceptions (iirc) and mentioned SO as an exception.
I guess its likely Crytek funded Ryse but now they want to do a sequel and can't afford to or don't want to spend the money and want MS to foot the bill, MS want the IP in exchange for that...
Miles Quaritch
Member
They'll probably do a Gears deal again if they really want it to remain exclusive.
As for Ryse, I suspect MS want the IP as they want a different studio to work on it. Perhaps things didn't go smoothly with Crytek during development?
SEGAvangelist
Member
Or maybe MS wants first refusal rights if Crytek gets bought out to avoid another Mass Effect situation?
Steverulez
Member
Possible as well. If Crytek does end up getting split up, I wonder if MS would try and do a deal to get some of the team that made it as well?
Miles Quaritch
Member
Huh? MS didn't fund Ryse? Hard to believe that Crytek absorbed years of cost for that game as it went through its stages as Kinect brawler to what we eventually got.
Steverulez
Member
Well I don't know, but I think its likely MS didn't fund all of it otherwise they might have owned the IP from the beginning? I was just speculating, I'm sure they put plenty of money and development resources into it but its not really clear how much
infiniteheteroskdasticity
Member
Not surprising, this has been expected for some time. The company's leadership is mainly to blame. They haven't made a good game in years yet they continued to pour money down that particular drain when they should have been focused on pushing Cry Engine as the default next gen multiplat game engine. UE4 looked on shaky ground around 18 odd months ago. Crytek had a real opportunity to push the first wave of next gen multiplats to their engine and they blew it. UE4 fixed its issues, opened up its business model and started kicking butt.
TheMan
Member
Please do!
CrunchyFrog
Member
It's so stupid. A revived IP like that would do a ton of good rounds around the internet, the Sci-Fi bent is perfect for both showcasing the engine and the bald marine dudebros they'd need to get a larger audience on board, and the arcade/mayhem style FPS genre is virtually nonexistent, fulfilling a pretty nice niche in the market right now. It seems to me like a no brainer, but what do I know.
Miles Quaritch
Member
It started life under Mattrick, so perhaps not too surprising they weren't interested in owning it back then.
It had to have been MS funded from the outset though, doesn't seem all that likely that Crytek would take on the financial risk of developing a Kinect brawler, especially one originally built about Kinect 1.0
I Want Your Cat
Member
Damn just let MSFT have ryse, its not that good. Looks amazing though.
Let MS fund ryse2, maybe this time the gameplay will be better and more enjoyable.
Let MS fund ryse2, maybe this time the gameplay will be better and more enjoyable.
They were one of the more early and shocking announcements of a Dev going all free-to-play by x amount of time.
Never made sense at the time why the leader in Visuals would decide to go free to play. You would think after Crysis 1 and Warhead they would continue to go all out on the PC front.
Seems it didn't work out to well for them.
Never made sense at the time why the leader in Visuals would decide to go free to play. You would think after Crysis 1 and Warhead they would continue to go all out on the PC front.
Seems it didn't work out to well for them.
I just bought Far Cry 1 and saved them from bankruptcy.
P.S. The game is bloody difficult, I cannot remember having had such problems when I first played it 10 years ago.
P.P.S. Crytek deserves this shit. They could have churned out Far Cry 1/Crysis 1 like games and I would have loved them forever.
P.S. The game is bloody difficult, I cannot remember having had such problems when I first played it 10 years ago.
P.P.S. Crytek deserves this shit. They could have churned out Far Cry 1/Crysis 1 like games and I would have loved them forever.
Later Alligator
Member
Ubisoft says hello
If they go out of business, I hope they can sell their tech to Unity so we get some more serious competition to Unreal
I got the impression their games barely turned a profit and the bulk of their business came from their military/simulation division. If they're having problems on that front, then I could see the rest of the division collapsing if they can't figure something out.
Then again, I'm not a business expert
What the military is asking for is likely a pipe dream. They can't oth keep up with the blistering speed of the consumer graphics industry while also trying to create the world's most ambitious MMO war simulator to date.
I got the impression their games barely turned a profit and the bulk of their business came from their military/simulation division. If they're having problems on that front, then I could see the rest of the division collapsing if they can't figure something out.
Then again, I'm not a business expert
What the military is asking for is likely a pipe dream. They can't oth keep up with the blistering speed of the consumer graphics industry while also trying to create the world's most ambitious MMO war simulator to date.
Ryse was in the works for seven years. I believe MS only picked it up in 2009 or 2010, so it was self-funded prior to that.
I think it's really, really myopic to attribute their decline to either F2P or transitioning to consoles when it's very patent that Crytek was just a hilarious mismanaged business. If Crytek were timely and efficient, they could have had an entirely slate of genre-defining F2P games for various markets with significant VC backing.
TrafalgarLaw
Banned
Why/how did they dump Far Cry again?
SwiftDeath
Member
Seriously? That's crazy if true. God knows how much money Crytek lost on that project then
fredrancour
Member
Clearly they need to pull an itagaki and pitch timesplitters 4 to a publisher that needs games but is reluctant to develop anything with realistic violence in-house.
What I'm saying is that nintendo needs to buy ts4 so the internet melts again.
Back in reality, I'm assuming that even if somehow reality broke and this strange contract happened, the funding wouldn't be nearly enough to save the whole studio. If timesplitters could bring in that cash, the franchise never would have had the chance to go dormant.
What I'm saying is that nintendo needs to buy ts4 so the internet melts again.
Back in reality, I'm assuming that even if somehow reality broke and this strange contract happened, the funding wouldn't be nearly enough to save the whole studio. If timesplitters could bring in that cash, the franchise never would have had the chance to go dormant.
Yep, seriously. IIRC a Polygon article said it was originally a big RPG I want to say.
Rumor is that Ubisoft and Crytek couldn't stand one another. Apparently vowed to never work together ever again. Very bad relationship on both ends.
Ubisoft isn't one to let go of IPs, even ones that didn't originate from their internal studios.
BlackBuzzard
Banned
800 people and the only thing you are working on is F2P and Homefront 2, wtf are you doing?
Is every EA partner just cursed?
Is every EA partner just cursed?
TrafalgarLaw
Banned
Nintendo should buy them.
Neuromancer
Member
Bad news all around, after Crysis 1 and 2 I really though these guys were untouchable. I loved both of those games and played through them multiple times. It'd be a shame to see them go under.
I hope Crytek UK can finish Homefront 2, that game sounds promising.
I hope Crytek UK can finish Homefront 2, that game sounds promising.
military and simulator contract work