Crytek is Falling Apart

[Correction]

Recent reports are that the company is swirling the toilet, strapped for cash and hemorrhaging employees. Morale problems are leaking through in Glassdoor reviews.

Kotaku has sources saying they were working on Ryse 2, but that has since been canceled.

Seems their operating budget is coming almost entirely from private equity, but now it looks like that's starting to dry up, too.

The source, who has ties with the studio, said since April, employees had received small payments of around £700 last month. At the time they had been told a deal was being made to secure money from Deutsche Bank, but that was since delayed.

A further payment was paid on June 16th, with staff then told to expect payment on Friday, June 27th. Our source claims however “this now looks like it won't happen either”.

People going unpaid for four months? Major sequels canned? Latest titles and licensing deals failing to meet expectations? This company is in a tailspin and probably won't survive to see 2015 without going through bankruptcy.

[Aerin]

In the Kotaku article it says their CEO told reporters that their shifting from making console games to free-to-play only. That's a pretty big shift, as an employee I'm sure it was a huge WTF moment.

[ringthree]

How the fuck do you fuck up Far Cry, Crysis and the best game engine in the industry? Oh, that's right invest everything in a Xbone exclusive game that was essentially one long quick time event.

[Qalbert]

yes clearly Ryse was singledhandedly the cause of the downfall of Crytek. CLEARLY.

[Moridam]

if they got into bed with PE, it doesn't come as much of a surprise. i'd be interested to see the inner workings of that arrangement.

[Correction]

How the fuck do you fuck up Far Cry, Crysis and the best game engine in the industry? Oh, that's right invest everything in a Xbone exclusive game that was essentially one long quick time event.

Also contributing to their demise: Lower than expected sales of Crysis 3, failure to meet targets with Cryengine licensing, a floundering, rudderless f2p strategy, having Ryse 2 held up over contract negotiations with MS, then watching it get canceled.

[AvidLoki]

Can I say it?

This sounds like a Crysis for Crytek.

Their games were pretty solid, it would suck to see them go under.

[Krandor]

Cry Engine is definitely NOT the best engine in the industry, that title easily goes to Unreal. And Crysis generally does not sell very well AFAIK. I own 1 & 3 and I've never regarded them as more then glorified tech demos.

[Correction]

Crytek UK Employees Stop Going To Work

Over the past two days, I've spoken with four people connected to Crytek's UK studio, which is currently developing Homefront: The Revolution. According to those people, Crytek's UK staff have still not been paid the full amounts they are owed, and this week, according to two sources, the staff at Crytek's UK office handed in formal grievance letters and went home.

The life of an independent developer ain't easy.
Then again, being wholly owned by a publisher ain't no picnic, either.

[Quicklet]

First THQ, now Crytek. These are some ominous signs for the AAA industry.

[Mayareira]

Quite sad to hear this. Apart from the developers of Mount and Blade these are the only solid Turkish ones out there.

their games are not for every taste but they've always aimed for the highest quality, that's for sure. As Quicklet said, this is quite bad for the AAA industry. 10 years ago one could not imagine a company like Crytek going down.

[Qalbert]

signs that dumping money into things that are momentarily trendy is a horrible business plan?

[Correction]

Quite sad to hear this. Apart from the developers of Mount and Blade these are the only solid Turkish ones out there.

their games are not for every taste but they've always aimed for the highest quality, that's for sure. As Quicklet said, this is quite bad for the AAA industry. 10 years ago one could not imagine a company like Crytek going down.

Writing was kind of on the wall when EA dumped Crysis. They weren't willing to reconfigure the studio to be anything less than a AAA outlet but they never had the sales numbers to sustain the size of their business and the cash ran out. This follows closely what happened to THQ.

[Qalbert]

Sources: Crytek Still Facing Issues As Homefront Director Resigns

[aurik]

Welcome to the console transition. In a year or two once things stabilize up again it'll get better.

[6souls]

Press Release

In recent weeks, there have been repeated reports and rumors relating to financial problems at Crytek. Having already given an update to staff across all our studios, we are now in a position to share more details with members of the press and public.

Internally, we have acknowledged that the flow of information to employees has not been as good as it should have, however we hope you understand that communicating details of our plans publicly has not always been possible.

Like the games industry as a whole, Crytek has been in a transitional phase. Our evolution from a development studio to an Online-Publisher has required us to refocus our strategies. These challenges go along with an increased demand for capital which we have secured.

We can now concentrate on the long term strategic direction of Crytek and our core competencies. We kindly ask for your understanding, that we won't be communicating further details about our developments and progress.

Ultimately, with our organization, capitalization, portfolio and technologies we have now laid the foundations for securing Crytek's future - not just in the short term, but also long term.

Through this period of speculation, we are thankful for the support and encouragement we've received from our community and our partners, and for the contribution all of our staff have made. We remain committed to doing what we are best known for and trying to develop the best interactive experiences and technology possible for everyone who loves gaming.

We are confident that we will be able to share more positive news on Crytek's progress soon.

[Lucavi]

Wooo PR-speak! Transitional phases!

BUZZWORDS!

[Grey Jorildyn]

Ok, Crytek.

[Qalbert]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...to-new-studio/

Munich based Koch Media has acquired the rights to develop Homefront The Revolution, having purchased the IP from Crytek for an undisclosed fee.

The project, which is now under control of its third owner since conception, will be finished at a new Nottingham studio called Deep Silver Dambuster.

It is not clear what this means for Crytek UK, the Nottingham studio which was overseeing the project before Koch Media acquired the IP, but rumours of turmoil at the company have surfaced in recent weeks. It is believed, though not officially confirmed, that key staff had left Crytek UK after monthly salaries were not paid.

CVG understands that Deep Silver Dambuster was formed in July by several executives, including the former Crytek UK project lead Hasit Zala.

Crytek has issued a statement which suggests its UK staff and studio have been wholesale transferred to Koch. It did not specifically state that its Nottingham business will be shut down, nor did it mention the UK when listing its active development hubs. The company was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

In a prepared statement, Crytek said: "On completion of the proposed acquisition, the Homefront team from Crytek's Nottingham studio would transfer their talents to Koch Media in compliance with English law and continue their hard work on upcoming shooter, Homefront: The Revolution. Both parties hope to finalise and implement a deal soon."

Koch Media, which owns the Metro IP as well as Saints Row developer Volition, talked up the commercial potential of the Homefront IP in a statement issued to the press.

[Qalbert]

http://venturebeat.com/2014/07/30/cr...eam-in-austin/

The Crysis and Ryse: Son of Rome developer is closing its U.K. studio and cutting jobs from its U.S. team in Austin, Texas. Much of the talent from Crytek U.K. will join Deep Silver’s new studio in England to continue working on Homefront: The Revolution, according to a statement from Crytek. The Austin wing of the company will remain open to operate as a support team for North American developers that license the studio’s CryEngine development toolkit, but development of co-op thriller Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age will move from Austin to Crytek’s Frankfurt team. This news comes after months of rumors that the developers was missing payroll payments to its employees.

“As we look to cement Crytek’s future, this strategic deal with Koch Media would allow us to continue with our ambitious goals to become an online publisher,” Crytek chief executive officer Cevat Yerli said in a statement. “With Warface, Arena of Fate, and Hunt, we believe we have the perfect portfolio and teams to make that happen. We would like to thank all our staff – past and present – in both Nottingham and Austin for their contributions to the company, and we wish all the very best to anyone who may no longer be under the Crytek banner moving forward.”

While Crytek is cutting jobs in Austin, the company says it will offer those employees the opportunity to apply for work at its German offices … on another continent.