Support NeoGAF

[Lime]

2 years ago: http://www.polygon.com/2014/8/8/5982995/crytek-employee-pay-withheld-save-company-cevat-yerli

"You have two choices," Yerli said. "Either you delay payments — again delay... it's not that they didn't get paid, they got delayed — delay payments and salvage the company. Or, you push your cash flow directly to the studios and you file for insolvency. Both options are really bad. So you have to make the better of the two bad decisions."

Yerli says that employees were alerted, through internal communications, that payroll would be missed. They were encouraged to "work with different banks at a personal level to prepare." Alternately, they could resign and seek employment elsewhere. Those who stayed on with the company received bonuses, which Yerli called "inconvenience payments," once their paychecks resumed.

 

[Bashtee]

If you've been a long standing employee, they'd have to pay you quite to money to fire you. If you just resign you won't see any of that money. Seems partially a way to make employees resign themselves.

This. Also, if you resign you will be locked for 3 months from social security payments. Depending on wage there isnt much room to operate, I assume Frankfurt isnt cheap either and net income is roughly ~65% of what you actually earn.

 

[YuriLowell]

Who works for four weeks without pay?

 

[Mupod]

4 months???

Why the fuck haven't they just walked out the door then?

Believing promises from the employer, not being able to find anything else...

I 'worked' for almost 2 months without pay at my previous job. All I did was come in, drink coffee and look for another job. It was an ideal environment to get that done and all I had to do was answer a phone once in a while.

The worst part of it would be the bounced checks. Some of them even seemed to clear, called my bank and they said it was ok, then a couple days later the money would be gone.

 

[Alebrije]

What is Crytek even doing with 300+ employees at the moment.

a Crysis....

 

[Aklamarth]

Do they even own any of their IPs or does EA technically own them?

Apparently they own Ryse.

 

[FelipeMGM]

If they want to sell some of their IP Im sure THQ Nordic will be interested lol

 

[Lime]

and the whole Ryse "brag" about crunch

 

[YuriLowell]

Crytek should just go under.

They haven't made anything good since Crysis 2.

 

[shinobi602]

Heard about this a few weeks ago. Only a matter of time before it got out.

 

[OdysseusVA]

I wonder what the employees are being promised if they stay

 

[HighResTomato]

How many companies are circle above them like vulture right now.

Definitely hope MS puts in another bid for Ryse.

 

[Lime]

Crytek doesn't deserve to exist when they repeatedly treat their employees like this. At the very least, management and executives should all be moved and replaced (if the entire company doesn't go under that is)

 

[uncredited male]

They have probably bled a bunch of talent too which makes the company even more undesirable to outside investors.

 

[S1kkZ]

4 months? its weird that the health insurance companies of the employees have not yet initiated the insolvency.

 

[sanstesy]

I see, Crytek trying their best to represent german working conditions as good as they can.

 

[cleveridea]

It always makes me laugh when companies act like they are being generous, giving a $10 meal to people putting in unpaid extra hours of $100+ dollars (can be much higher based on their rate and the hours worked)

 

[Shengar]

It frustrates me that Crytek's insistence that f2p is the future has led to... well... nothing. Timesplitters ports could have got them some extra cash. Whatever happened to Hunt? They've got that Robinson Crusoe VR game coming out, and had that climbing game, but we all know VR isn't doing super great.

This insistence of F2P seems weird considering they're most renowned for their graphical fidelity. Meanwhile, the biggest F2P market on Earth are where the players mostly play on net cafe where their computer barely meet the minimal requirements for many games. Unless they're making console port of their F2P, they wouldn't make a dent on the already highly competitive F2P market if they alienate third worlder players with their focus on the graphical fidelity.

 

[Sweep14]

Bye-bye PSVR's Robinson...?

 

[Dash_Riprock]

Crytek should just go under.

They haven't made anything good since Crysis 2.

But Crysis 2 was garbage compared to the first one...

 

[Hesemonni]

Superior EU laws pretty much guarantee that the employees get their money, but if I were working there I would contact the authorities.

 

[vivekTO]

Just sell the Ryse IP to Microsoft. It would benefit both the parties . Pay the salary of the employees with that. and maybe than you can take a step back, trim the strength and go into oblivion.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

I feel like these developers would be better off going it alone and paying themselves nothing in the hope of making a profitable game, rather than staying with a company that doesn;t pay them anyway and hasn't made a hit game in many, many years.

 

[dmr87]

Here we go again.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Do they even own any of their IPs or does EA technically own them?

They own Timesplitter and Ryse.

Which is sad since MS was trying to buy the IP but Crytek refused.

They could've been working on Ryse 3 while paying their employee with Ryse 2's money by now.

 

[JetBlackPanda]

does this kind of explain the weirdness around robison? shipping dates getting messed up, price differences etc?

what a mess.

 

[cyberheater]

Who works for four weeks without pay?

It's 4 months. An no. I don't know why anyone would do that either.
They must be getting something.

 

[H4r4kiri]

Wow this is some really bad stuff. I wonder why the employees do not go to court with this. Germany has a really really strong Laborlaw and Employeeprotection. The Courts are very pro employee.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Bye-bye PSVR's Robinson...?

Well it's out in 6 days. Hopefully.

 

[Shikoba]

Ugh. Now I'm hesitant to buy Robinson: The Journey. I was looking forward to it -,-

 

[Evolution of Metal]

I wonder what the employees are being promised if they stay

Crytek is in no position to deliver on those promises: Robinson's Journey priced at $60 in the busiest month of the year going up against COD, Watch Dogs, Dishonored, FF15 and TLG. HUNT is probably in limbo and Arena of Fate is abandoned. Only Warface has some players but they are mostly russians, so it is unlikely that they are making anything significant with it.

Superior EU laws pretty much guarantee that the employees get their money, but if I were working there I would contact the authorities.

While I am not a legal expert, but I think that employees should be compensated for up to three months:

Employees are protected by so called “insolvency money” (Insolvenzgeld) which covers wages for the period of three months. Contracts of employment are not automatically terminated by the initiation of the insolvency proceedings but may be terminated with three months’ notice or, if applicable, with a shorter notice period. Certain other employee rights are limited in insolvency proceedings as well.

Sadly I don't think that Bulgarian studio employees are going to be as protected as Frankfurt.

 

[Gemeanie]

Bye-bye PSVR's Robinson...?

Someone already gotten the game though
What people should worry is Robinson being the swan song.

But then this may turn out to be nothing more than a rumor right? Also is there any employment law to protect workers there? 16 weeks of free work is ridiculous

Edit: Just read the post above me

 

[ymgve]

4 months? its weird that the health insurance companies of the employees have not yet initiated the insolvency.

It's Germany. I don't think employers are involved in employee healthcare at all there.

 

[family_guy]

I wouldn't even put up with one missed paycheck. That's a red flag that the company isn't doing well.

 

[Dictator93]

It's Germany. I don't think employers are involved in employee healthcare at all there.

Of course they are.

 

[v1oz]

Is no one buying Cry Engine?

 

[Vitor711]

So, uh, Deja Vu, huh? Wasn't sure if that old thread from the last time this happened (different studio, still Crytek) had just been necro'd.

 

[YuriLowell]

But Crysis 2 was garbage compared to the first one...

But it was leagues better than 3.

 

[mnz]

It's Germany. I don't think employers are involved in employee healthcare at all there.

They are. Employee and employer both pay half (just about)

 

[Spiral Insanity]

This is terrible for the employees. Even if they eventually get paid. The stress of late wages is a heavy burden on someone and their family.

If Crytek goes under, what does this mean for Star Citizen long-term?

 

[thomasmahler]

Just sell the Ryse IP to Microsoft. It would benefit both the parties . Pay the salary of the employees with that. and maybe than you can take a step back, trim the strength and go into oblivion.

Why would MS be interested in that? If I'd be a decision maker at MS, if I wanted the Ryse IP for some weird reason, I'd just wait til Crytek is bankrupt, then they'll have to sell everything off for cheap anyway.

 

[El-Suave]

Bye-bye PSVR's Robinson...?

Review copies are out I heard.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

This is terrible for the employees. Even if they eventually get paid. The stress of late wages is a heavy burden on someone and their family.

If Crytek goes under, what does this mean for Star Citizen long-term?

Nothing, SC is already based on the earlier version of CryEngine which is now entirely managed by CIG themselves.

 

[Dictator93]

If Crytek goes under, what does this mean for Star Citizen long-term?

That they probably get access to whatever engineers, artists, QA, etc. that leave crytek. Given how Crytek has not posted anything about SC in so long, and how they do not actively advertise it anymore, and since the last engine integration was 3.7... Crytek has not "supported" SC in a long time on a large level.

Crytek losing staff is in all likelihood a good thing for SC if you view if from such a large perspective.

 

[Ovek]

Sounds about right for Crytek, super shitty for the people working there though. I'm honestly surprised they have stayed around that long, is the development and art/design job market so poor in Germany that they can't easily flee?

 

[Sakujou]

autsch.

wow, i heard it already last month, but i didnt know that everyone is involved.

crunching time and delaying paychecks is what makes me wondering why this industry still stays alive....

 

[Atolm]

Yea working four months for free is asinine. I would have been out after two weeks of no pay.

It's nice to be a member of a highly developed country.

Here in Spain, in the worst period of the 2008-present crisis, some people have been working years without a paycheck because otherwise they lose all legal right for a compensation once the company finally shuts down. I know this first hand, sadly.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I was wondering recently what was going on with their Hunt: HotGA game.

And if anyone's wondering why this is sounding familiar: the same thing happened in the first half of 2014.

EA owns Crysis IIRC.

EDIT - Ubi got Far Cry a while back. But Crytek still got TimeSplitters apparently.

Crytek own Crysis and Timesplitters.
They sold Homefront to Deep Silver (not as if that would have helped them anyway)
They sold Far Cry 2 Ubisoft way way back before FC2 even released
EA might still have the publishing rights to Crysis, but they don't own anything

What is Crytek even doing with 300+ employees at the moment.

Yeah, that's crazy. They really should have slimmed the studio down to like a third of its size after Amazon bailed them out last time.

How many companies are circle above them like vulture right now.

Definitely hope MS puts in another bid for Ryse.

Yeah, MS should pick up Ryse and someone who lacks a good FPS series (Sony?) should pick up Crysis. I'd really love a remake of the first game.

This is terrible for the employees. Even if they eventually get paid. The stress of late wages is a heavy burden on someone and their family.

If Crytek goes under, what does this mean for Star Citizen long-term?

I'm not sure it will affect Star Citizen at all. Presumably they have paid for their license for the engine already.

 

[Se_7_eN]

and the whole Ryse "brag" about crunch

Wow, that is terrible!

 

[oti]

Crytek is such a weird studio. I remember when the CEO was in the news regularly with his quotes, I like it when people in the industry are that outspoken. Then their announcement of going F2P only, then VR and now this. Again.