Crytek closing majority of their studios, down to 2

Dominic Brehetto

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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.
 

Bawon Samedi

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Dudes need to read the tea leaves.

AAA gaming is dying a slow death. The amount of studios shrinks every year.


Or maybe because outside of graphics Crytek sucks? Or maybe because AAA gaming is becoming more expensive to make? Doesn't mean its dying.
 

Dominic Brehetto

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Or maybe because outside of graphics Crytek sucks? Or maybe because AAA gaming is becoming more expensive to make? Doesn't mean its dying.
It most definitely is dying.

Sales are down. The number of studios is down. The number of games is down.


Franchise juggernauts are faltering.

The price of AAA development is so high that it is not a sustainable practice. Games are now taking 3-5 years to complete while having monstrous budgets while the consoles are now spitting out different versions meaning more work for those studios.


One single flop will close a studios doors. That is not sustainable.


The number of indies keeps rising for good reason. The stakes are lower and you can miss without it crippling you.


When a studio has to sell 5-10 million copies just to be profitable that is not going to last.

The current AAA model is the equivalent of a movie studio making nothing but 200 million dollar blockbusters and having to hit on 100% of them.
 

daze23

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Never made a classic I gave a shyt about. They can go

Away
Crysis was a classic IMO. it was pretty much the pinnacle of the single player FPS genre when it came out. and I'm not just talking about the graphics. it had great AI, destructibility, open levels, on-the-fly weapon mods, crouch-run, responsive gunplay, etc

it was pretty much downhill from there though. I feel like they should have focused on making their own quality games, rather than trying so hard to licence their engine. seems like they got bloated, and now they have to cut back
 

Dominic Brehetto

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Crysis was a classic IMO. it was pretty much the pinnacle of the single player FPS genre when it came out. and I'm not just talking about the graphics. it had great AI, destructibility, open levels, on-the-fly weapon mods, crouch-run, responsive gunplay, etc

it was pretty much downhill from there though. I feel like they should have focused on making their own quality games, rather than trying so hard to licence their engine. seems like they got bloated, and now they have to cut back
Dunno how much you followed them but they've repeatedly been in the gaming news for not being able to pay employees.
 

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Turns out the "Pay what you want" business model isn't profitable. I understand that they released CryEngine V to be affordable for indie developers, but their leadership failed to put the financial needs of their staff first. Hopefully they get their salaries paid out and don't suffer.
 

daze23

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Dunno how much you followed them but they've repeatedly been in the gaming news for not being able to pay employees.
yeah, I heard about that. that's an example of them getting bloated IMO. they hired people they couldn't pay
 

Ciggavelli

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Crysis 1 was a classic, 2 was okay, 3 was bad. Ryse was bad. They really only have 1 good game and that came out years ago.

They should just focus in on making engines and licensing them out. CryEngine is such a pretty engine. It's demanding as fukk, but it is so impressive. I'd hate to see it go away
 

Dominic Brehetto

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Crysis 1 was a classic, 2 was okay, 3 was bad. Ryse was bad. They really only have 1 good game and that came out years ago.

They should just focus in on making engines and licensing them out. CryEngine is such a pretty engine. It's demanding as fukk, but it is so impressive. I'd hate to see it go away
Did you buy Robinson the journey?
 

Kamikaze Revy

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No, I've actually never heard of it. :jbhmm: Lemme check it out real quick

Edit: I'll wait for a sale, as it looks to be essentially a tech demo. I'm not paying $60 for that. Maybe when it's around $30
Robinson The Journey was interesting to me until I saw the rough reviews a lot of sites were giving it. I may end up checking it out in the future but like you said, I'll just wait for a sale.
 
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