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Crytek to close all studios except Frankfurt HQ and Warface studio in Kiev

chadskin

Member
Press release:
Crytek today outlined a series of changes to its future business plans that will see the company refocus on its core strengths of developing innovative games and game-development technology.

As part of the changes, Crytek will concentrate on development in its Frankfurt and Kiev studios and continue to develop and work on premium IPs. CRYENGINE will remain a core pillar of Crytek’s overall strategy, with enterprise licensees and indie developers alike continuing to be served by regular engine updates. All other development studios will not remain within Crytek and management has put plans into action to secure jobs and to ensure a smooth transition and stable future.

Crytek Co-Founder and Managing Director, Avni Yerli, said: “Undergoing such transitions is far from easy, and we’d like to sincerely thank each and every staff member – past and present – for their hard work and commitment to Crytek. These changes are part of the essential steps we are taking to ensure Crytek is a healthy and sustainable business moving forward that can continue to attract and nurture our industry’s top talent. The reasons for this have been communicated internally along the way. Our focus now lies entirely on the core strengths that have always defined Crytek – world-class developers, state-of-the-art technology and innovative game development, and we believe that going through this challenging process will make us a more agile, viable, and attractive studio, primed for future success.”

Going by the list of studios on Wikipedia, it seems these are all affected:

  • Crytek Black Sea in Sofia, Bulgaria, founded in 2001 as Black Sea Studios, acquired and renamed by Crytek in 2008.
  • Crytek Budapest in Budapest, Hungary, founded in 2007.
  • Crytek Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey, founded in 2012.
  • Crytek Seoul in Seoul, South Korea, founded in 2010.
  • Crytek Shanghai in Shanghai, China, founded in 2012.
 

DocSeuss

Member
I think this is a good move on their part; lots of expansion was cool and all, but they weren't shipping enough to profit from it. They should probably cut down on the VR (see Rocket's statements on VR not being profitable) and really just push some solid G-A-A-S titles (Warface for Russia, something new like Hunt for the rest of the world) for the short term.

Really sucks for the employees, though.
 
Interesting. I would assume *premium* IP would a one last ditch attempt at success with a Crysis or Ryse type traditional large scale game...but in this day and age they probably would have needed all the ancillary studios to get a large scale project going? Unless premium just means free to play.

Layoffs suck though.
 

rhandino

Banned
What did those Studios even do or how much people are in each of them? I refuse to believe they had so many studios when their output was so tragic.
 

CHC

Member
Didnt know they had that many studios.

I think that's the crux of the issue. They expanded ruthlessly but they don't really have brands people care that much about - aside from their game engine, which has recently taken a backseat to Unreal Engine 4, Unity, or big studios using proprietary solutions.

I feel bad for everyone involved really. Who the fuck knows what "Premium IPs" even means but once upon a time they were a solid game maker (Crysis was awesome!) so hopefully they can see that quality sells and will strive for that. Seems like a longshot though...
 

vivekTO

Member
It was written on the wall, i hope people will land safely. good luck to them.
and sell your Ips to other companies!!
 
Given there output in recent years I am surprised they kept so many studios open for so long .

Crytek engine is basically dead now for most devs and the only ip they have of any worth is crysis(or maybe ryse)

It's a shame as i really enjoyed there crysis / ryse games but they have had pretty shitty output the last few years
 

Akai__

Member
Really feel bad for the people. I hope they find something better than this. Nobody deserves to be treated like this.
 

Drencrom

Member
Wait, they had over 6 studios?

The fuck have Crytek been doing? They've barely released any games the last couple of years.
 
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Been a long time coming, awful to do so close to the festive period too, hopefully the staff will find employment soon enough elsewhere.
 

Bedlam

Member
Sucks for a lot of employees but it is not at all surprising. I always found Crytek's expansion plans were fueled by a lot of hubris and that the company would eventually burst like a bubble. Management fail.

The other big management failure was the Call of Duty chase that started with Crysis 2 and resulted in generic, boring-ass military shooters from then on.
 
Given there output in recent years I am surprised they kept so many studios open for so long .

Crytek engine is basically dead now for most devs and the only ip they have of any worth is crysis(or maybe ryse)

It's a shame as i really enjoyed there crysis / ryse games but they have had pretty shitty output the last few years

Isn't the Crysis IP owned by EA?

Should have sold Ryse

With the number of studios and employees they had, I doubt the few million $ they would have gotten would help much, maybe keep them working a day or two longer.
 
I'm honestly surprised they've managed to last this long in their current form.

Quite frankly,they haven't had a true hit game since Crysis 2,roughly 5 years ago. Continued to expand in spite of a lack of hot titles and a relatively low amount of games being licensed to use cryengine,has had numerous times where financial issues have cropped up, their F2P output has consisted of Publishing that truly horrendous looking moba consisting of public domain characters,and warface...Which is a game called warface.
 

wrowa

Member
  • Crytek Black Sea in Sofia, Bulgaria, founded in 2001 as Black Sea Studios, acquired and renamed by Crytek in 2008.
  • Crytek Budapest in Budapest, Hungary, founded in 2007.
  • Crytek Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey, founded in 2012.
  • Crytek Seoul in Seoul, South Korea, founded in 2010.
  • Crytek Shanghai in Shanghai, China, founded in 2012.

Didn't they also have an American studio? Ex-Vigil staff? Did it get shut down previously already?
 
What did those Studios even do or how much people are in each of them? I refuse to believe they had so many studios when their output was so tragic.

They have some listings on their websites

Crytek Black Sea - Arena of Fate

Studio Budapest - Crysis Warhead, Fibble Flick 'n' Roll, and The Collectables

Studio Istanbul - Warface

Studio Seoul - Nothing

Studio Shanghai - Tech support for CryEngine and localization of Warface in China
 

tci

Member
Sucks for a lot of employees but it is not at all surprising. I always found Crytek's expansion plans were fueled by a lot of hubris and that the company would eventually burst like a bubble. Management fail.
Yea, been my thoughts too. They expanded too much after the success of Crysis, and could not create another big success after. Hope they now can focus more and that the management gets their act together.
 
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