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Crytek to close or sell off all studios outside Frankfurt and Kiev, reverts to premium games

CryEngine outfit survives another day

Crytek to close or sell off all studios outside Frankfurt and Kiev, reverts to premium games

Crytek has finally responded to reports that it is in deep financial trouble to reveal that all of its development studios outside of Frankfurt and Kiev will no longer remain with the company.

The press release did not clarify exactly whether these studios would be closed or sold, however, and how many people would lose their jobs.

Crytek has simply stated that “management has put plans into action to secure jobs and to ensure a smooth transition and stable future”.

Outside of Frankfurt and Kiev, Crytek has offices in Budapest, Sofia, Seoul, Shanghai and Istanbul. It was believed to employ some 700 employees.

The developer added it will now concentrate on developing premium games, a retreat from the free-to-play projects the company had tried shifting to a few years back to little success.

Unanswered questions

CryEngine will continue to “remain a core pillar” of Crytek’s overall strategy. It said enterprise licensees and indie developers would continue to get regular updates. Presumably this will still operate under a “pay-what-you-want” scheme, though this isn’t clarified.

Other unanswered questions include whether employees, current, laid off and old, have been paid their wages in full during recent months and whether its upcoming free-to-play titles have been cancelled, sold or remain in development.

There was no suggestion that the Frankfurt and Kiev studios had suffered layoffs.

“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,” said Crytek Co-Founder and MD Avni Yerli.

“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.”


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Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.