oh boy. New thread?
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Deep Silver Acquires Homefront IP; Crytek UK closed, Deep Silver hires as new studio
- Thread starter Tapejara
- Start date
oh boy. New thread?
Going to copy this over to a new thread as well, and try to update here.
Chobel
Member
Crytek UK closed? Shit!!!
IOnEI Falcon
Member
Audio Director Graeme Norgate who is ex-Rare, ex-Free Radical and now ex-Crytek UK is moving over to Deep Silver.
EDIT: Graeme is best know for his awesome soundtrack work on KI, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and of course TimeSplitters for anyone curious.
EDIT: Graeme is best know for his awesome soundtrack work on KI, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark and of course TimeSplitters for anyone curious.
Wasn't that one of the reasons why they decided to close down the EA Partners publishing label?
I think Titanfall is the last "active" IP from that program (i.e. that EA is publishing but doesn't own).
Nah, it was primarily because almost all the games were underperforming and they were reducing their slate from 80+ retail titles a year to ~10.
They still have a version of the program under Chillingo which does the same thing for a bunch of mobile developers and let's them keep their IP.
NO. GOD. PLEASE, NO GOD NO. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.gif
Leave DICE with Battlefield and Mirror's Edge, please. I don't need them working on a sci-fi shooter that didn't gain traction with the namesake ("cry"tek) dev. :|
EA doesn't own the Crytek IP and I don't think they'd be interested in having DICE work on it regardless.
Sure, that sounds like a plan. I enjoyed what I played of Darksiders 2.
Good to hear Crytek UK's staff should still be okay. Hope if Crytek USA goes under that someone steps in (cough Nintendo). I'd love to see Darksiders 3 be done by the guys from Vigil. 
Regardless, anyone else concerned about Deep Silver's expansion? Isn't this the same stuff that got Crytek into the trouble it's in?
Regardless, anyone else concerned about Deep Silver's expansion? Isn't this the same stuff that got Crytek into the trouble it's in?
The Cartographer
Member
Crytek fucked up real good.
ebullientprism
Member
Where do Deep Silver get their money from? They have published Dead Island and SR4 and I am sure those games did well but not that well. So what gives??
moerser
Member
parent company is koch media.
Good to hear Crytek UK's staff should still be okay. Hope if Crytek USA goes under that someone steps in (cough Nintendo). I'd love to see Darksiders 3 be done by the guys from Vigil.
Regardless, anyone else concerned about Deep Silver's expansion? Isn't this the same stuff that got Crytek into the trouble it's in?
I think about the best you could hope for is that one or two of them end up at Retro.
Their parent company Koch Media does much more than publishing video games and is doing quite well:
http://www.kochmedia.com/company/vision.html
honestly I'm not sure why Koch media and Deep Sliver care this much about Homefront, it's not a big IP and there is no crazy big fanbase following the original game for them to buy the IP and start a new studio just for it.
I mean this is the same Deep Sliver that didn't care about buying the Red Faction IP after getting Volition, but now they buy a lesser IP (Homefront) and might even hire the lazy guys from Crytek UK to work on this. this is just weird.
I mean this is the same Deep Sliver that didn't care about buying the Red Faction IP after getting Volition, but now they buy a lesser IP (Homefront) and might even hire the lazy guys from Crytek UK to work on this. this is just weird.
For people interested in the granular details here: my understanding based on a few conversations today is that Crytek UK staff were offered employment with the new studio, which will be run by Homefront director Hasit Zala.
Crytek UK did not become this new Deep Silver studio, but the new studio will be composed of ex-Crytek UK staff.
Crytek UK did not become this new Deep Silver studio, but the new studio will be composed of ex-Crytek UK staff.
I never actually played Homefront, seemed to have a cool story to it though form the little i remember of the trailers.
not sure if it's cool enough to pick up knowing there's a Homefront Curse though. I really like Saints Row so hopefully they sell it to a good publisher...which there are none so fuck it. take it down with you deep silver
not sure if it's cool enough to pick up knowing there's a Homefront Curse though. I really like Saints Row so hopefully they sell it to a good publisher...which there are none so fuck it. take it down with you deep silver
Didn't Deep Silver shut down their own studio in Vienna a few years ago? They made Cursed Mountain for Wii.
I wonder if Crytek UK is/was made up of former devs from Free Radical at this point, nothing was ever released (not an exclusive problem to just the UK studio though) and some of the former Free Radical probably jump ship from management issues going on at Crytek...
I just hope for the best for all involved, I'm probably a minority but I'm really interested in what they have said about the new homefront game... Wonder if anything changes with the new owners/studio (will they still use CryEngine? start over? can the whole thing and go in a different direction)
I just hope for the best for all involved, I'm probably a minority but I'm really interested in what they have said about the new homefront game... Wonder if anything changes with the new owners/studio (will they still use CryEngine? start over? can the whole thing and go in a different direction)
Well, unlike with Red Faction there is a Homefront game in development for almost 3 years now. It maybe isn't the best IP, but maybe to good a game to just let it die now.
Why is there so much hate for Crytek around this place?
I mean sure, the upper management is completely dumb, but they have some of the most talented employees in the business. They produced three really fantastic games (Farcry, Crysis, Crysis warhead) that still are better single player Fps games than anything else this gen.
I mean sure, the upper management is completely dumb, but they have some of the most talented employees in the business. They produced three really fantastic games (Farcry, Crysis, Crysis warhead) that still are better single player Fps games than anything else this gen.
moerser
Member
deep silver does not own sproing interactive, and they are still making games.
Hero Prinny
Member
When was home front the revolution supposed to come out again? I hope it releases, really looks like a cool game.
That was ages ago tho. Just cause they used to make good games doesn't excuse what they make now
I have no idea (and it seems to be clarified above).
I'm just talking about buying into the AAA business when the AAA business is becoming increasingly hostile in an era of ultimate hostility. They went from an almost-AAA company (thanks Dead Island) to a multiple AAA team company without releasing anything successful in the interim. That's some big bets.
Erm, what?
Baron_Calamity
Member
I don't think its so much as anyone wants it really bad. Crytek was contracted by THQ to develop the sequel. When THQ went under, Crytek saw that they had a mostly developed game. They could either retool it to be an original IP or buy the Homefront ip for $500,000. They probably figured it would be cheaper to just buy the ip. Now Crytek is hurting and they are facing closing down. Deep Silver probably offered to buy the ip and assets for a fraction of the money already sunk into the project. Since they didn't have to buy a studio since Crytek was just going to lay everyone off anyways, it made financial sense. I would not be surprised if Deep Silver end up spending $5 million on a game that cost 40+ million to develop. That's all guesstimation. This is only happening because someone sees an amazing deal.
Now wild speculation.
I think someone in Koch media is trying to build up Deep Silver as a large AAA publisher via the new fashion way of picking up others crumbs and trying to polish them up. Then turn around and make money off the sale or ipo of Deep Silver as its spung off.
SmoothRunningGun
Member
This ip is crap. Why do people keep buying it?
Aquamarine
Member
It's super cheap for the work invested into it. Profit margins and all that.
I don't know how or why Deep Silver has the money to do all of this, but hopefully it works out well for everyone. Don't really know if Crytek had anything worth buying, but hopefully the studio puts out something of interest. I don't think any of this news is especially surprising to anyone here, though.
Guess Crytek is pretty much done for... what a sad story, never expected to see the maker of original Far Cry and Crysis to go down like this. Also, it really sucks how CryEngine never managed to become popular with the devs, despite being able to produce arguably the best technical visuals in the industry.
PapaJustify
Member
True, true.
Also really bad news for the already struggling game development culture in Germany.
Fox Mulder
Member
it's shitty and forgettable, but has probably been bought up for cheap and the work is already done.
shacklesmcgee
Member
Not sure if I'm reading this right, but this sounds...interesting.
...I can apply to move to Germany to work for a company that just fired me, after not paying me for a few months? Uhh, thanks but no thanks.
...I can apply to move to Germany to work for a company that just fired me, after not paying me for a few months? Uhh, thanks but no thanks.
Neuromancer
Member
Holy shit. Hope everyone at Crytek UK lands on their feet and/or comes over to the new studio. Also I thought the new Homefront game sounded pretty rad so I'm glad it wasn't canned.
Monies is when something is proven to be reasonably profitable despite quality, such as the Scary Movie line and its related spawn.
No, at best they see a POTENTIAL and want to see if they can bring that out, at worst it is pure madness at work.
- Sold five million copies.
- Better than trying to launch a new IP; Homefront shockingly has fans.
- Was dirt fucking cheap to acquire. Crytek probably sold it at a loss too to avoid being sued by Deep Silver for failure to meet deadlines and such.